


The Conductor {Black Lightning}

by Ejmcmoon



Series: The Conductor {Black Lightning Fanfiction Series} [1]
Category: Black Lightning (TV)
Genre: But no one gets together, But otherwise no romance, Canon Divergence, Gen, Graphic Violence, Heart Attacks, Hospitalization, Lightning Powers, Lots of torture, Panic Attack Mention, Panic Attacks, Parent Death Mention, Swearing/cursing, also tw for alcohol and drugs, basically if you can't handle the stuff in the show you definitely shouldn't be reading this fic, between Eugene and getting her shit together I mean, ish, it's a long ride for those two, just lots of suffering in general, people getting choked out, pretty much a slowburn fic, there's a few romantic jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-27
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-06-17 09:05:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 39
Words: 41,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15457923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ejmcmoon/pseuds/Ejmcmoon
Summary: He took one look at her walker and sneered. "Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do about it? You gonna run me over with that?""You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna call security unless you leave now," she said calmly, moving closer to him and running over his foot with her walker. She hadn't meant to do it, but that didn't stop the satisfaction she felt from seeing the pained look on his face."Ow! Get that thing away from me!"Eugene smirked. "Hurts, doesn't it?"{Full Description Inside}





	1. The Rebellious Pierce Sisters - A Saga

**Author's Note:**

> {Full Description}
> 
> Yoojin "Eugene" Martin's life changes for the worse when a man named Tobias Whale gives her an ultimatum: help him kill Black Lightning or her mother dies. Knowing she would be completely alone without her mother, Eugene agrees. After a year of training, she teams up with Tobias and kills Black Lightning. 
> 
> Nine years later, Eugene's life has settled into a new normal. She has a steady job. Her mother is alive. The only notable part of her life is her roommate's habit of continuously getting arrested.
> 
> But when Black Lightning suddenly rises from the dead, Anissa's criminal record becomes the least of Eugene's worries. She supposes she should be grateful; after all, he did come back to save Anissa. Eugene's not grateful for long, though, because shortly after the incident, Anissa develops powers and things become a lot more complicated.
> 
> Started: 5/28/18
> 
> Ended: N/A

"Took you long enough. I've been growing a beard waiting for you."

 

"Sorry," said Anissa. "I...I uh got arrested. You can drive to the fundraiser by yourself. Dad and Jen gave me a ride."

 

"Ooh..." Eugene's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "I would  _ not _ want to be in that car if I were you."

 

Eugene had dealt with the most dangerous criminals in Freeland, but there was nothing like having to face an angry Jefferson Pierce. There was something terrifying about making someone who was normally so good-natured angry. It was like tapping into an unknown power and unleashing a completely different person.

 

"Just shut up and get your ass over here," said Anissa. Eugene could hear the eye-roll over the phone. "Otherwise he'll get on you too for being late."

 

"Hey...I'm not the one who got arrested, Harriet."

 

"Don't call me that!" Anissa whined.

 

"I don't know why you hate that nickname," said Eugene. "Harriet Tubman was a bad woman. She also didn't get arrested two times a month or captured ever. You could take a leaf out of her book."

 

"Shut up."

 

Eugene pursed her lips together smugly. "Bye Harriet!" she said playfully before hanging up.

 

Even though she was just messing with Anissa, part of her wondered why Anissa managed to get arrested more than her. Eugene was the one who worked for The One Hundred and was partly responsible for the death of Black Lightning. She had tortured and killed so many people she had lost count. If anyone deserved to be in jail, it was her.

 

***

 

Eugene did get lectured for being late, but not by Mr. Pierce. By her mother.

 

"Why are you late?" Mom demanded, arms crossed.

 

"I was waiting for Anissa," Eugene said nonchalantly. "It's not my fault she got arrested."

 

Eugene grinned like a devious child as her mother turned on Anissa. No one survived the death glare of Kaiya Martin. 

 

Anissa sent Eugene a glare of her own, but Eugene didn't care. Anissa had nothing on her mother.

 

"It was a peaceful protest!" Anissa told Mom indignantly. 

 

Eugene snorted quietly. Like hell it peaceful. Nothing Anissa did was ever peaceful and Eugene knew for a fact Anissa had definitely tried to blow up a few police cars.

 

Mom simply gave a nod and went to talk with other teachers. Anissa roughly elbowed Eugene as they watched her mother walked away.

 

"Why you gotta throw me under the bus like that? I'mma get you for that later."

 

Eugene laughed. "I've been dealing with that for twenty-seven years now," she said. "It's your turn now."

 

"It's my turn every time she comes over for dinner!" said Anissa. "You know how hard it is to impress that woman?"

 

"Oh, quit whining," said Eugene, shaking her head at Anissa's dramatics. "We all know she goes after Jennifer more than you at family dinners. And she's actually pretty nice once you get past the perfectionism."

 

"Speaking of Jennifer, where is she?"

 

"I dunno," said Eugene. "Check the bathroom. That's where the shenanigans happen."

 

Anissa pulled a face. Eugene scoffed.

 

"Girl, get your mind out of the gutter."

 

***

 

Ten minutes later, Anissa came out of the bathroom. "I found Jen. Apparently, Khalil is having a house party and she wanted me to cover for her."

 

Eugene furrowed her eyebrows. "Khalil didn't tell me he was having a house party."

 

Anissa chuckled. "Of course he didn't," she said. "You're a teacher. We're not  _ that _ cool."

 

"I guess."

 

***

 

Khalil didn't tell Eugene about having a house party because she was a teacher. He didn't tell her because Jennifer was lying.

 

"She went to Club One Hundred!" said Anissa, furiously pacing around the living room in their shared apartment. "CLUB ONE HUNDRED!"

 

Eugene winced."Yikes. Is she okay?"

 

"No the hell she's not okay. She acts like it, but she came in that house shaking. And now Dad's mad at me for two things so I'm just done for today," Anissa rambled as she sat next to Eugene on the couch. Eugene wrapped her arm around Anissa comfortingly.

 

"At least she's safe. Club One Hundred isn't the worst thing that could've happened."

 

Anissa scoffed. "Yeah? You must have really low standards.

 

Eugene did have really low standards, but she wasn't going to delve into those and Anissa needed positivity right now. "Trust me," she said. "Come on, let's watch some TV."

 

Unfortunately, her plan for positivity was ruined because the first thing that came on was the news.

 

"I'm not here to talk about Club One Hundred," Inspector Henderson told the reporter. "We are here because two police officers were viciously attacked tonight while on the job protecting and serving the community, plain and simple."

 

"Witnesses say it looked a lot like Black Lightning was involved at the incident at Club One Hundred," the reporter replied.

 

Inspector Henderson scoffed. "That's fake news..."

 

Eugene immediately turned off the TV, shaken.

 

"Wouldn't that be great if Black Lightning was back?" said Anissa. "It's about time that someone capable came to help."

 

"It can't be Black Lightning," said Eugene, talking more to herself than to Anissa. "Why would he come back after all these years to attack some police officers at a club. Like, I said, there are far worse things than Club One Hundred. He didn't show up those times."

 

"He could be starting off small," said Anissa. "After almost a decade, he's probably just a little rusty."

 

"No, it can't be him," Eugene insisted.

 

"What happened to you being the optimist?" Anissa asked incredulously. "Black Lightning being back is a good thing.

 

Anissa didn't get it. Eugene  _ was _ being an optimist because for her Black Lightning being back wasn't a good thing. One of her first big missions in the One Hundred was helping Tobias Whale kill Black Lightning. And if Tobias found that she had failed - even if that failure was partly his fault - both her and her mother would be screwed.

 

Then there was the fact that just didn't make sense for him to be back. She saw him die. She had killed him. And she hadn't gone through all those nights of seeing his dead, bloody body in her dreams only for him to be alive and well.

 

Feeling Anissa's stare piercing into her soul, Eugene forced a feeble smile onto her face.

 

"Just trying to not get my hopes up."

  
  
  



	2. Knowing What You Can And Can't Do

"Okay, Eugene, I'm leaving to go run with Dad and Jen now," said Anissa. "See you at school."

 

"Have fun," said Eugene, absentmindedly staring at a spot on the kitchen counter. "See you at school."

 

"You know you can always come up with us whenever you want?" Annita told her. "I hate leaving you here. You always look so depressed and bored...like now."

 

Eugene abruptly looked up. "Oh, no, I'm not depressed," she said. "This is just my resting face.  Like a resting bitch face, except sad."

 

"Whatever you say."

 

"I know you wanna be inclusive, but really there's no point in me coming," said Eugene. "I'm still trying to figure out how to not walk like a penguin and you three are track athletes. It wouldn't work."

 

"Don't be pessimistic," said Anissa. "You know you could do anything if you put your mind to it."

 

"It's not being pessimistic. I just know my limits," said Eugene. "Have fun!"

 

Eugene had Cerebral Palsy and even though she didn't always need to use a walker, Garfield's stairs alone made her winded. Anissa had good intentions, but the only thing running with the Pierces would do was give Eugene war flashbacks to the pacer test.

 

***

 

The first thing Eugene noticed when she arrived at Garfield was the strange, out-of-uniform boy approaching the front steps. While many students came out-of-uniform and then changed when they went inside, this boy looked incredibly out of place and he was also harassing Jennifer.

  
  
As Eugene took her walker out of her car, she saw Anissa trying to get the boy to leave, but he wasn't budging and Anissa was only getting more riled up. Eugene had to intervene fast because if he was part of the One Hundred like she thought he was, things could get messy real fast.

  
  
"Who is this?" she asked Jennifer. She had to confirm her suspicions before she jumped into anything.

  
  
"The scumbag I met at Club One Hundred," Jennifer replied. Eugene nodded and walked over to the boy, making an effort to stand up straight so she looked somewhat intimidating.

  
  
"Please leave," she told him. "You don't even go here."

  
  
He took one look at her walker and sneered. "Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do about it? You gonna run me over with that?"

  
  
There was a time when Eugene would've snapped at him for underestimating her because of her disability, but now she really couldn't give a fuck. If he knew the things she could do to him, he'd piss his pants and run off screaming.

  
  
"You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna call security unless you leave now," she said calmly, moving closer to him and running over his foot with her walker. She hadn't meant to do it, but that didn't stop the satisfaction she felt from seeing the pained look on his face.

  
  
"Ow! Get that thing away from me!" 

  
  
Eugene smirked. "Hurts, doesn't it?"

  
  
Apparently, her retort was the last straw for him because he lunged towards her and shoved her to the ground, making her walker fall on top of her. 

 

Because of Eugene's powers, the fall felt like a scratch, but it was just enough to be the last straw for Anissa as well. She silently stepped in front of Eugene, punched him in the gut, and flipped him on his back in two seconds flat.

  
  
A loud chorus of gasps filled the parking lot as people marveled at Anissa's stunt. Eugene heard an inhuman noise come out of her own mouth.

  
  
Anissa had done that in heels.

  
  
"Are you okay?" Anissa asked, immediately rushing to Eugene's side.

  
  
"Yeah," said Eugene, looking up at her best friend with admiration. "I'm fine."


	3. Following Protocol

Anissa was fuming at their lunch break. 

 

"Dad's mad at me because I didn't call security," she told Eugene, angrily biting into her sandwich. "Security ain't gon' do nothing!"

 

Anissa was right; Garfield's security was useless. But it was hard to take her seriously when a piece of sandwich came flying out of her mouth and landed on Eugene's arm.

 

"Uh..." Eugene pulled a face as she brushed it off with a napkin. "Yell with an empty mouth, please."

 

Anissa swallowed the rest of her food and cringed. "Oh, sorry. That's gross."

 

"I'm fine."

 

"What else was I supposed to do?" Anissa continued. "He harassed Jen, he wouldn't listen to me, he wouldn't listen to you, and then he had the  _ nerve _ to push you."

 

"Nissa, I can handle myself," said Eugene. "You didn't need to defend me."

 

"That's not the point!" Anissa said fiercely. "The One Hundred needs to know that they can't just come in Garfield and do whatever the hell they want!"

 

"That's why you call the security guards."

 

"You aren't listening! Security guards are useless!"

 

Eugene ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. Talking about politics and the One Hundred with Anissa was hell, but these days that was all Anissa wanted to talk about. Yes, both of those things were at the core of Eugene's reality, but Eugene hated reality.

 

"If you don't follow protocol, you could escalate things and get people hurt," she said firmly. "You can't just jump into situations because you're emotional."

 

"The situation has  _ already _ escalated! Protocol hasn't done jack!"

 

***

 

Eugene had valid reasons to not agree with Anissa about calling security, but that didn't stop her from feeling guilty as hell when the One Hundred kidnapped Jennifer and Anissa.

  
  
"The security guards are bloody useless!" she ranted to her mother as they walked to the parking lot. Eugene's temper tantrum earned quite a few stares from bystanders. She didn't lose her temper often, but when she did, the English accent she had gotten from her mother revealed itself in full force. "What are they even here for if they're gonna just let gang members waltz into Garfield?!"

  
  
"I know, baby, I know," Mom said soothingly.

  
  
"I should've helped," said Euge, lowering her voice. "What are 'my' powers even here for if I don't help people?"

  
  
"You couldn't have helped, Eugene," said her mother. "You were on the second floor when it happened. Be reasonable."

  
  
But the normal, more rational (and arguably more cowardly) part of Eugene knew that even if she had been on the first floor or even in the same classroom during the kidnapping, she couldn't have helped. If she showed any disloyalty to the One Hundred, they would kill her mother and then they would eventually go after Anissa and Eugene would have no one left.

 

The first thing Eugene did when she got home was turn on the TV. The Garfield Incident would for sure be the only thing on the news and even though Eugene usually couldn't handle the negativity, she needed the news. She needed to know what was going on .

  
  
"Witnesses say the girls are probably at the Seahorse Motel," said the reporter. "What's the accuracy in that statement?"

  
  
"We're trying to confirm details before we barge in," said Henderson. "This situation is a mess and one wrong move could escalate."

  
  
Anissa's words about everything in Freeland had already replayed in Eugene's head, filling her stomach with a gnawing anger and hopelessness. The last thing she needed was for something terrible to happen to Jennifer and Anissa because the police had waited too long in an attempt to not escalate things.

  
  
"Do you think the man at Club One Hundred who was rumored to potentially be Black Lightning could possibly return?" the reporter continued.

  
  
"I hope he doesn't," said Henderson. "If anything could make this messier, it's him."

  
  
Eugene screwed her eyes shut. "Shit."

  
  
She hadn't thought of Black Lightning - if this man at Club One Hundred was Black Lightning. But whoever he was, she needed him to get out of her life and stop fucking things up.

 

_ Think positive. Think positive. _

 

The first step to solving any problem was figuring out your goal. Eugene's goal was to stop Lightning Guy from causing any chaos and making Tobias suspicious. Maybe she could use that as an excuse to intervene and save Jennifer and Anissa while she did it. 

 

After getting the phone that she only used for One Hundred related tasks, she pulled up Tobias' number in her messaging app. She would've talked to him verbally, but she was too flustered and afraid of slipping up.

 

**I'm afraid that Black Lightning--** Eugene stopped typing for a moment and hesitantly deleted part of her text. She was too afraid to say Black Lightning's name, fearing that Tobias would believe the rumors and come after her. **I'm worried that lightning guy might make a comeback after the Garfield incident. Do you want me to intervene?**

 

It only took Tobias ten minutes to respond, but to Eugene, those ten minutes felt like hours.

 

**No. You're too valuable to be out and about. Let Lala handle it.**

 

Eugene groaned. Maybe she just had to try harder

 

**Obviously Lala doesn't know how to handle a situation like this if he's thick enough to let his guys near Garfield.**

 

**Don't do anything. Keep your head down. Lala may be stupid but you're not. You know the consequences.**

 

Eugene pursed her lips at the thinly-veiled threat.  **Yes I do.**

 

**Good. I knew I could count on you to follow orders.**

 

She angrily closed the app and slammed her phone on the table. He was right. He could count on her to keep her mouth shut and follow orders.

 

And she hated it.


	4. Mind and Sink-Shattering Circumstances

Later that evening, Eugene got another text from Tobias.

 

**I need to you to help me knock the stupidity out of Lala.**

 

That could only mean one thing. Torture.

 

**I'm coming,** she replied.

 

Getting in her gear for One Hundred Assignments was like a firefighter having to get their suit on in under a minute. Not even because she had any high tech parts of her disguise, but because she had to put her hair in twists so her helmet would fit over her head. That by itself was a night's worth of work.

 

Because of Tobias' severe case of albinism, his mansion was darkly lit and he didn't notice her arrival until she had sat down and taken off her helmet.

 

"Oh, there you are, Eugene," he said. "For a moment, I thought you were late.”

 

Eugene shuddered. She wouldn't dare be late for Tobias. The only person who was allowed to be late was his sister Tori. Everyone else got at least one of their bones broken.

 

"I would never be late," she replied. "My mother didn't allow that growing up."

 

"Your mother raised you to be a smart woman," said Tobias. "You were right about our lightning friend showing up."

 

"You don't think it could be him?" Eugene asked, still nervous about saying Black Lightning's name around Tobias.

 

"No way," said Tobias. "We killed him. You saw his body. You were there."

 

"I was."

 

"Now put that helmet back on," he told her. "Joey and Sy should be here with Lala any minute now."

 

Eugene nodded and put her helmet back on. Moments later, Joey and Syonide entered the room with a masked Lala. As soon as they took the mask off, he started talking.

 

"Look, boss, it wasn't my fault--"

 

Eugene walked up from behind him and shocked him with a burst of lightning. Lala let out a loud yelp.

 

"You speak when you're spoken to," she hissed in his ear. "Otherwise shut up."

 

"Now, now, Eugene, don't punish him yet," said Tobias. "I wanna ask him a question first. Latavius, do you know how much of Black Lightning's electricity it takes to kill a man?"

 

Lala didn't answer. Tobias sneered. "Eugene, help him find his tongue."

 

She nodded and shocked Lala again, making him cry out louder than before. Usually, she tried to go as easy as possible on the people Tobias wanted her to torture, but this wasn't just for Tobias. This was for Jennifer and Anissa.

 

"He asked you a question," she said sharply. "Answer it."

 

"I don't - what do you mean--?"

 

"I killed Black Lightning," Tobias growled. "I don't know who this clown behind the suit is, but you've pissed him off and that's bad for my business. So unless you put an end to this problem, Connie here is gonna have to use a lot more electricity on you. And before you go around saying what was and wasn't your fault, I just want you to know what electricity can do to you."

 

Lala gulped. 

 

"I'll deal with it, sir."

 

****

 

After helping Tobias deal with Lala, Eugene opened her phone to see she had gotten a text from Mr. Pierce.

 

**Jennifer and Anissa are safe. I'm bringing Anissa to your apartment now.**

 

Eugene's heart swelled with relief. Lightning Guy's appearance had brought nothing but problems for her, but at least he had saved Jennifer and Anissa. She had to be thankful.

 

**Thank God,** she texted back.  **Coming.**

 

Mr. Pierce and Anissa were already there when Eugene got to the apartment. Eugene tried to hug Anissa from behind, but it didn't work out very well because Eugene was walking too fast and ended up just tackling Anissa into the kitchen counter instead of hugging her properly.

 

"Damn," said Anissa. "Sometimes I forget how strong you are."

 

"Sorry," Eugene said sheepishly. "I just missed you."

  
"Also, why do you  smell like smoke?" Anissa asked. "You been sitting on a barbecue while I've been gone?"

  
  
Eugene's chest tightened for a moment. Usually, she put on perfume to temporarily cover the smoke smell after her missions until she had access to a shower, but today she had been so excited to see Anissa that she had forgotten about it.

 

"It's nothing," she said. "Anyway, it's probably from you. Weren't you just around Black Lightning?"

  
  
"Yeah, but how did you know that?"

  
  
Shit. "The news."

  
  
"I thought the news was too depressing for you," said Anissa.

  
  
Mr. Pierce suddenly cleared his throat. "Well, now that you're here, I'll be going," he said, giving Anissa a quick kiss on the forehead. "Stay safe, you two."

  
  
"We will," Eugene replied. After he had walked out the door, she turned to Anissa and said, "I watched the news because I wanted to know if you were okay. Now, let's call it a night, shall we? It's late and you're probably exhausted."

 

***

 

A loud thud jolted Eugene out of her deep sleep. Afraid that something had happened to Anissa, she ran to Anissa's room, but for some reason, it was empty.

  
_   
_ _ Don't panic, don't panic. She could be taking a bathroom break. _

  
  
"Anissa, can I come in?" Eugene asked.

  
  
"I..I broke the sink," said Anissa, her voice trembling.

  
  
"Is the drain blocked? I've been meaning to put hair removal in there--"

  
  
"No, I shattered it. With my bare hands."

  
  
" _ What? _ "

  
  
"Come in and see."

  
  
When she opened the door, Eugene's jaw dropped. The bottom half of their sink had come clean off and the top half was cracked in multiple places.

  
  
"I don't know how I did it," Anissa went on. "I was having a panic attack and then my hands started glowing and it just...crumbled."

  
  
"Uh...adrenaline rush?" Eugene suggested, trying to calm her best friend down. In reality, she knew it probably wasn't adrenaline. Adrenaline didn't make your hands glow and unless Anissa had been hallucinating (Eugene hadn't completely ruled that out yet), there was only one other explanation.

  
  
Anissa had powers.


	5. Asking the Hard Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...if you're still reading this, you probably read the warnings in the tags for graphic violence. But I just wanted to emphasize that there's a lot of choking people in this chapter, so it gets intense.

After the incident with Anissa, sleeping was impossible. By the time they had finished cleaning the mess up, Eugene was wide awake and going back to sleep was the last thing on her mind. She had so many questions.

 

"Has anything like this happened to you before?" she asked Anissa.

 

"Not that I know of," said Anissa.  

 

"Maybe something when you were little? Maybe another time when you were scared or afraid?" Eugene suggested, suddenly feeling like Hagrid when he was explaining magic to Harry in  _ Sorcerer's Stone _ .

 

"I don't know," said Anissa. "I've been to multiple protests and those are pretty stressful, but nothing like this happened. And like you said, it could be adrenaline."

 

"Then we need to put you in a situation where you're not stressed and see if you can do it again," said Eugene. "If you can't, it's adrenaline. If you can, it's..." She hesitated for a moment. "...something else."

 

"Are you saying I might have powers?" Anissa asked.

 

"Well...yeah."

 

Anissa's face broke into a grin. "That would be amazing!" she exclaimed. "Just think of all the people I could help!"

 

"But you should probably keep this on the down low," Eugene added quickly.  "You don't want the wrong people to know and you don't know for sure that you even  _ have _ powers."

 

"Right," said Anissa, her grin fading into a more serious look. "Let's confirm first."

 

"But before that, we should probably sleep," said Eugene. 

 

"After this?" Anissa said incredulously. "No way."

 

"I'm not tired too," said Eugene, "but there's a parent meeting tomorrow and you know we're gonna be tired then."

 

"Damn. Forgot about that."

 

***

 

Eugene had never been to a parent meeting with so much secondhand embarrassment.

 

For starters, Mr. Pierce had mixed up his sources and said that the Seahorse Motel was closed when it really wasn't. Saying inaccurate information was always a red flag for teachers, but at the same time, Eugene couldn't put too much blame on him because otherwise, she'd be a hypocrite. She never watched the news because it was too depressing and the only reason she got news about the One Hundred was that she worked for the One Hundred.

 

Things didn't get uncomfortable until LaWanda started talking.

 

"You know what I wanna know, Mr. Pierce?" LaWanda demanded. "Why did Black Lightning save your daughters and not mine?"

 

Eugene grimaced as she pointedly looked down at the gym floor. LaWanda's question had sent her mind reeling . The random attacks on businesses that had been running without disruption for years could have been caused by personal reasons. And they both had something in common: Jennifer and Anissa had been involved.

 

Was Mr. Pierce Black Lightning?

 

It definitely would explain a lot. Maybe Anissa said no when Eugene asked if she had done anything like breaking a sink with her bare hands because she was trying to hide her powers. Although Anissa's excitement about having powers would have to be really good acting on Anissa's part. But whether she knew about them or not, Eugene was now ninety percent sure that Anissa had powers instead of seventy percent sure.

 

***

 

That night, Eugene's dreams took her back to the day she and Tobias had defeated Black Lightning. He had actually held own pretty well in the beginning, but of course, Eugene's cursed subconscious had decided to replay the part where Eugene and Tobias started winning. And this time, she wasn't really fighting Black Lightning. She was fighting Mr. Pierce. She wasn't fighting an intimidating superhero. She was fighting a kindly principal who wore a suit and dress shoes to school every day.

  
  
"I...gave you...a job," he choked out as she strangled by holding him by only his tie as he hung from the edge of the bridge, "and...this...is how...you...you repay me?!"

  
  
"Drop him, Eugene," Tobias ordered.

  
  
Eyes glued to the dying man in front of her, Eugene couldn't answer. So this was what torture was really like. Yeah, she had electrocuted people until they gave information and she had also held a gun to a few people's heads. But she had never seen the life slowly drain out of someone's eyes before. Not like this.

  
  
"Drop him!"

  
  
Tobias' voice snapped Eugene out of her daze. Mr. Pierce was gonna die either way. There was no reason to think about it. She just had to decide which way was worse - dying by choking or dying by falling off a bridge.

 

Mr. Pierce couldn't talk that this point. The anger in his eyes had now turned to desperation. 

  
  
No, Eugene couldn't do this any longer. She'd break herself if she let him choke to death. And at least he'd probably die on impact if she let him fall.

  
  
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tobias grin as she let go of the tie. "Good job, Eugene." 

  
  
Eugene didn’t answer, tightly gripping the bridge’s rail as she tried to calm her pounding heart. The fact that Mr. Pierce wasn’t her first kill didn’t make things any easier.

 

As a blur of grey flashed across Eugene’s vision, it took her a moment to realize that it was a person. As they flew over the rail, Eugene cautiously stepped forward to get a closer look, but before she got very far, they blasted her back with one, thunderous stomp. 

 

After gently laying the person they were carrying on the ground, the person sauntered over to Eugene and loomed over her. Eugene’s jaw dropped. 

 

“Anissa?”

 

Anissa’s face contorted with fury. “I can’t believe I shared a flat with you!” she yelled. “That’s my dad you just tried to kill!”

 

Eugene didn’t know what to be more stressed about - Anissa knowing who she really was or the fact that Anissa could fly. She knew that Anissa could now break sinks for whatever reason, but she hadn’t anticipated Anissa being able to fly. Flying was something that came from gods and magic, not something that came out of science experiments. This added a whole, new layer to things.

 

“Anissa, I never wanted to--” Eugene protested, but Anissa was having none of it. 

 

As Eugene was started to get back on her feet, Anissa landed a powerful punch and sent Eugene flying backward again. With a loud THUD, Eugene fell onto her back and hit her head on the hard, concrete ground.

 

For a moment, Eugene thought she was dying. Because of her powers, it had been a while since she had felt true pain. So when she did, she couldn’t handle it.

 

Even when she had been hit by a car going thirty miles per hour, she hadn’t felt pain like this. So either Anissa was stronger than a car going thirty miles per hour or Eugene was just a wimp when it came to concussions. That was the thing about not being totally human. She just  _ didn’t know _ .

 

Eugene’s vision had already blurry when Anissa moved in for the final blow, so all it would take was one punch to knock Eugene out at this point. But for some reason, Anissa didn’t punch her. Instead, she wrapped her hand around Eugene’s neck and lifted her up in a choke hold.

 

“You tried to kill my dad by choking him, so I’mma choke you,” said Anissa, but suddenly her voice didn’t sound like Anissa anymore. It sounded like Tobias. “Give you a taste of your own medicine.”

 

And then - as if things couldn’t get any weirder - Anissa’s face completely morphed into Tobias. 

 

“Tell me who Black Lightning is!” he growled.

 

“What?” Eugene choked. “But...but...you already saw...on the bridge...you...”

 

“And now you making stuff up!” Tobias sneered. “Tell me who he is!”

 

Even though she was seconds away from dying, Eugene hesitated. If she didn’t tell Tobias who Black Lightning really was, her mother would die. If she did tell him, her mother would live and the Pierces would be in deep shit. She just had to ask herself: who did she love more?

 

“Jeff--” She broke off, now at the point where she couldn’t speak because of Tobias’ choke hold.

 

Tobias loosened his grip. Eugene fell to the ground gasping. 

 

“Who?” he demanded.

 

“Jeff - Jefferson Pierce.”


	6. He Had It Coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Eugene kicks Lala's ass.

As soon as she woke up, Eugene tried to psych herself out of panic mode. Nightmares were nothing new. She had better things to do than freak out over subconscious-induced delusions.

 

Unfortunately, her efforts ended up being useless. All it took was one look at her open drawer to see that Tobias had sent her a message and make her freak out all over again.

 

What if he knew about Mr. Pierce being Black Lightning? If Eugene had figured it out so quick, Tobias definitely could have. And if he knew about Mr. Pierce's powers, did he know about Anissa's powers too? Anissa already had enough issues with Tobias knowing about her powers before she even did. 

 

Part of Eugene wanted to bury her head in her pillow, ignore the text, and forget about Tobias and the dream. But she knew she couldn't do that. The consequences for ignoring Tobias would be much worse than dealing with whatever he wanted to talk to her about. If she ignored Tobias, she'd get choked out (or worse, shot by the harpoon gun) either way. But if she replied, there was a chance that it wasn't about Anissa or Mr. Pierce and that she wouldn't get choked.

 

Praying for the best, Eugene pushed herself into a sitting position with her elbows and swiped open her phone to see Tobias' messages.

 

**Lala's being too loud. He sent someone to the Pierces' house while the cops were there. Make him shut up, will you?**

  
  
Eugene's first instinct was to ask if the Pierces were okay, but she knew she couldn't. Tobias would question her attachment to them and he probably didn't know or care about whether or not they were okay. Plus, if anything bad had happened, Anissa or someone else would've texted her.

  
  
And she had to be grateful that the text from Tobias wasn't about anything serious. All he wanted her to do was kick Lala's ass. That she could do. Hell, it might even be fun. Eugene had put up with Lala at first because he had kept a small amount of fragile peace.

 

But now he was causing a ruckus that was hurting the people she cared about and she was happy to be the one to silence him.   
  


***

 

  
When Anissa came home, Eugene interrogated Anissa about what happened at the Pierces' house. If she was going to talk to Lala, she needed to have her facts straight and she wanted to confirm that everyone was okay.

  
  
"I heard that the One Hundred came to your house," said Eugene. "Is anyone hurt?"

  
  
"Everyone's okay," said Anissa. "They just sent a kid to shoot Jennifer with fake blood from a water gun, but otherwise, everyone's okay."

  
  
Eugene grimaced. Actually getting shot was bad enough, but thinking you were getting shot and then realizing you weren’t was like dying in a nightmare and then waking up. The mental scars were real even if the physical ones weren't.

  
  
"They also put a cop car outside of our apartment too since they think the One Hundred will come after me as well," Anissa added. "Just be careful. I don't want you to get caught up in this mess."

  
  
Eugene's lip twitched. If only Anissa knew the kind of mess she already got caught up in. "I'll be fine."

  
  
"You better be," Anissa said fiercely. "'Cause if anything happens to you, I'll break their asses like I did with that sink."

 

***

 

The next evening, Eugene went to Club One Hundred to look for Lala. This was her least favorite part of the job. It was Friday, which meant the club was packed. It also meant there were more people were smoking weed. Getting smoke from her lightning-related endeavors out of her clothes was something she could deal with. She could even imagine regular smoke being a perfume smell, but weed just stank and she sure as hell didn't want it in her clothes.

 

And then there was the fact that she couldn't see a damn thing because the lighting in the club was so shitty. She also couldn't use her walker to get through the crowds because she was technically the Conductor right now and if she used her walker, someone might recognize her as Eugene.

 

After thirty painstaking minutes of pushing through sweaty, confining crowds while trying (and failing) to not fall over, Eugene finally found Lala in a private room. 

 

"Lala, I need to pull you aside for a minute," she said, feeling as though she was in her classroom at Garfield pulling a disruptive student aside to give them a talking to.

 

"Didn't you torture me enough last time?!" he said demandingly.

 

"I never actually said I was gonna torture you," Eugene pointed out. "But I fell over three times coming to get your dumbass and now I smell like weed and booze. So if you don't come with me now, I'll make sure last time felt like a bee sting."

 

Now that she thought about it, there was a slight difference between the teaching analogy and her situation with Lala. If she threatened and cursed at her students like she did with him, she'd get fired in a split second.

 

"Ooooh," the rest of Lala's chorused like a bunch of third graders when their classmate got sent to the principal's office. Eugene whipped her head around to face them.

 

"You want some too?" she asked. 

 

They didn't answer.

 

"I thought so."

 

***

 

"What did I do?"

 

That moment was one of the rare times Eugene wished her helmet was see through so Lala could see how fed up she was. "Uh...let me think," she said dryly. "Does  _ sending someone to shoot Jefferson Pierce's daughter with fake blood at their actual house ring a bell _ ?"

 

"They told the police about me!"

 

Eugene stayed silent for a few moments, trying to figure out how to regain the brain cells Lala had just made her lose. She was so shocked by his stupidity that she went into teacher mode instead of torturing mode. 

 

"I'm sorry," she said slowly as though she were explaining something to a confused student, "but do you know how ridiculous you sound? All of Freeland PD knows you're dirty and by sending that kid, you just gave them another lead!"

 

"Those stupid girls shouldn't have run their mouths about me to the police - ow! I thought you never said you were gonna torture me!"

 

"First of all, I lied. Second of all, I don't think anything is gonna get the message across to your dumbass!" said Eugene, her voice gradually getting louder and louder "Stay away from the Pierces and stop causing so much fucking ruckus!"

 

Lala fell to his knees again as she shocked him again.  "Argh! Fine, I'll stop! I'll stay away from them!"

  
  



	7. Parter-In-Good

When Eugene came home the next, Anissa had her eyes glued to the current story on the news. 

 

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, changing the channel when she saw that Eugene had walked in. "I'll turn it off."

 

"No, it's fine," said Eugene, waving her hand dismissively. "Continue."

 

Over the last few days, Anissa had been closely following the news to keep up with LaWanda, the woman whose daughter was in the Seahorse Motel. And even though Eugene knew LaWanda's story would only end in tragedy, she let Anissa watch it when they were both in the room. 

 

Part of her still felt a gnawing guilt over the other night's nightmare every time she interacted with one of the Pierces. No matter how much she told herself it was just a dream, the pessimistic voice in her mind reminded her that dreams were rooted in her subconscious. And the fact that there was any part of her mind that would be willing to screw the Pierces over like that scared her to no end.

 

And then there was the part of her that just clung to the hope that everything would magically work itself out, but the recent nightmare had silenced that voice. Eugene was screwed no matter who she chose to save. All she could do now was selfishly feel better about herself by compromising and letting Anissa watch the news.

 

"I just feel guilty that her daughter didn't get saved and I did," said Anissa, turning the channel back to the news.

 

"Don't feel guilty," said Eugene. "It's not like you told Black Lightning who and who not to save."

 

"Still, it bothers me? Why  _ did _ Black Lightning save me and Jennifer and not the rest of them? If I was Freeland's only hero, I'd try to save as many people as possible."

 

"Well, obviously Black Lightning doesn't have as big of a heart as you do," Eugene reasoned.

 

Badmouthing Mr. Pierce created a bad feeling in Eugene's stomach. She was wrong; he had a huge heart helped multitudes of people every day. But when it came to life or death, he protected his own and Eugene related to that. Except she was much less decisive about protecting her own. Hell, she wasn't even sure who counted as her own.

 

"Well, if he's chickened out, someone's gotta step up," said Anissa. "Hey, maybe I could use my powers to sort out the mess that is this city."

 

The knot in Eugene's stomach tightened. "You don't even know if you really have powers, Anissa. And being a superhero is harder than you think it is." 

 

"I don't mean for this to be easy," Anissa retorted. "You think protesting and getting arrested is  _ easy _ ? I'm not just doing this for my own glory even if you think I am."

 

Eugene grimaced at her own tactlessness. "I never said it was for your own glory," she said truthfully. "I'm just worried about you."

 

Anissa scoffed. "You don't need to worry about me. I can handle myself."

 

"I know you can handle--"

 

"But..." Anissa added. "You are right about me not knowing the specifics of whatever this thing is. So help me test it. We can go out to the junkyard afterschool and kick some stuff around."

 

"Okay." Eugene had to agree with that. Even though Anissa was impulsive, she sure as hell wasn't dumb.

 

"And plus," said Anissa, smiling eagerly, "you can be my partner-in-crime. Harriet never would've freed those slaves without some help."

 

Eugene snickered. "Instead of partner-in-crime, wouldn't it be partner-in...uh...good?"

 

Anissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

 

"So..." said Eugene. "Partner-in-good, you wanna start testing tomorrow night?"

 

"Tomorrow night sounds good."

 

***

 

By tomorrow night, LaWanda was dead.

 

It seemed as though Lala had remembered the "stay away from the Pierces" part of Eugene's threat, but forgotten about the "stop causing so much fucking ruckus" part. He hadn't gone near the Pierces' house again or even Eugene and Anissa's apartment. But he had killed LaWanda and it had made enough ruckus that Black Lightning had come back and gone after him. Apparently, LaWanda had made Mr. Pierce decided that he couldn't just sit in silence and only protect his own. Eugene wished she could do the same.

 

After the tragic news, Eugene and Anissa postponed their plan to test Anissa's powers. Even though Eugene could defend herself, she was still technically the defenseless, unsuspecting teacher with Cerebral Palsy; Anissa would never let her go out late during the aftermath of a murder by herself. And vice versa Eugene would never let Anissa do the same, so they decided to go out next Saturday.

 

Unfortunately, LaWanda indirectly thwarted their plans yet again because next Saturday was her funeral. Or at least she thwarted Eugene's plans. Anissa wouldn't let anything stop her. She was going to test her powers next Saturday funeral or no funeral.

 

"Don't you think it's kind of rude to miss someone's funeral?" Eugene asked as she emptied the dishwasher.

 

"I'm sure LaWanda wouldn't care," said Anissa, looking up from her homework. "She'd want me to work towards saving people like her daughter - even if it meant missing her funeral."

 

"You've got a point," Eugene admitted, "but I have to come up with a good reason to miss for Mom first."

 

"I don't know why you let Aunt Kaiya walk all over you," said Anissa. "You're a grown ass adult. You can do what you want without an explanation."

 

"I don't let her walk all over me," Eugene said, slightly offended. "I just tell her everything and she tells me everything, so it's weird to lie."

 

Eugene hated herself for that entire sentence. Her whole life was a lie. And of all the things she had done, missing a funeral was probably the one her mother would be the least angry about. But a good cover for a skilled liar was being a terrible one.

 

"Tell her the truth, then," said Anissa.

 

"What? No. You haven't even told  _ your _ parents yet."

 

Multiple red flags went off in Eugene's mind. If she told her mother about Anissa's powers, her mother might think it's okay to tell Anissa about Eugene's powers. Then if Anissa ever found out about The Conductor, she would immediately suspect Eugene. And that was a mess Eugene couldn't afford to get caught up in.

 

Anissa inhaled sharply. "Damn. Didn't think of that. Yeah, scratch that. Don't tell the truth."

 

"Yeah, let's not."

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is really dialogue and internal-monologue heavy, but it's necessary.


	8. The Sound of Approaching Thunder

Eugene never did come up with a good lie to tell her mother about why she couldn't go to LaWanda's funeral. She was a decent liar, but she wasn't perfect. And sometimes not getting tangled in a web of lies at all was better than trying to weave a perfect one. 

 

So while Anissa went to the local junkyard, Eugene sat next to her mother at church as they listened to Reverend Holt's sermon. In the row in front of them, Jennifer quietly asked where Anissa was only to be hushed by Ms. Stewart. Jennifer turned around to face Eugene with raised eyebrows.

 

"Do you know where Anissa is?" she asked in American Sign Language. 

 

Before Eugene's mother became a teacher at Garfield, she used to be an ASL Interpreter and had talked to Eugene in ASL as a child. Then Eugene had taught Anissa and Jennifer some as well. It was a great way to practice and in places like a church where you had to be quiet but still wanted to talk, ASL was incredibly useful.

 

"No," Eugene signed back, shaking her head. "No idea."

 

"She didn't tell you anything?" Jennifer signed, mouth hanging open skeptically.

 

"No. Anyway, pay attention," Eugene told her, signing in Reverend Holt’s direction

 

Jennifer pursed her lips and turned back around while Eugene puffed out her cheeks in frustration. Having a nosy mother was bad enough, but by befriending the Pierces, she had also acquired a nosy little sister.

 

"I need one hundred God-fearing to march with me!" Reverend Holt shouted as Eugene turned her attention back to him. "I said I need one hundred God-fearing people to march with me!"

 

From that point onward, Eugene mostly tuned him out as he continued preaching. Protesting did nothing. Riots attracted the police and peaceful protests attracted the One Hundred themselves, who knew they could prey on defenseless people. 

 

"Stand up!" Reverend Holt went on. "March with me! Stand up if you want to march with me!"

 

Eugene stayed seated. Smiling eagerly, Jennifer turned around and offered Eugene a hand to help her up. 

 

"I don't want to stand," Eugene signed, not wanting to shout over the enthusiastic congregation. "Or march," she added. "Too tired."

  
  


Even though standing and marching in protests did make Eugene more tired than the average person, she was more scared than tired. Reverend Holt said they needed to "follow LaWanda's example.” And even though that sounded inspiring, the only way Eugene saw it ending was people getting killed.

 

***

  
  


After LaWanda's funeral, Anissa sent Eugene a video captioned,  **Look what I did!**

 

The thumbnail was Anissa kicking something in the junkyard they had planned to go to. Excited to see what Anissa had done, Eugene hurried to her room so she could watch it in private.

 

Upon looking closer, Eugene realized that Anissa was trying to kick a washer machine. Anissa's first attempt to kick it ended in her clutching her foot in pain.

 

Eugene pinched her nose; if Anissa wanted to be a superhero, she needed to not break her foot with her awful kicking form.

 

Thankfully, the following attempts didn't involve Anissa hurting her foot, but they didn't make anything unusual or particularly super. All it did was make Anissa frustrated and out of breath.

 

"Dammit!" she said, turning on the washer machine and punching the glass door. 

 

Eugene snickered. She was so impulsive. 

 

"It's my breathing," Anissa told herself. "Okay."

 

That made sense. Breathing was irregular during panic attacks. It wasn't surprising that having a panic attack triggered Anissa's powers and made her break the sink.

 

Suddenly Anissa went off screen for a moment. The same raspy breath Eugene had heard in her dream the other night was followed by a loud thud and a rumbling noise. Eugene heard Anissa inhale again before another thud pierced her ears. Her chest tightened as she silently prayed that Anissa hadn't hurt herself too badly.

 

Fortunately, her fears were eased when Anissa came back into the frame uninjured. Wearing a confident smile this time, Anissa spun around and kicked the washer machine halfway across the junkyard.

 

Eugene grinned from ear to ear. She knew that feeling. The power that swelled up inside of you when you found out that you weren't an average human. That someone could shoot you and you could walk away like it was nothing. 

 

**Pretty sure people in Vietnam could hear you yelling,** she texted. 

 

Anissa replied minutes later.  **Shut up.**

 

**Also, what happened while you were offscreen?** Eugene asked.  **I heard something fall.**

 

**That was nothing. I'm fine.**

 

Eugene pursed her lips.  **Anissa, what did you do?**

 

Anissa took longer to respond this time. **I might of punched the big pile there and made something fall off the top.**

 

***Might've,** Eugene corrected.  **And why did you think that was a good idea, you dumbass?**

 

**Stick to correcting essays and not texts, Grammar Police,** said Anissa.  **And like I said earlier, I'M FINE.**

 

**I'm an English teacher. I'm allowed to be the Grammar Police,** said Eugene.  **And I don't even correct everything you say, but even an elementary schooler should know not to say "might of.”**

 

**My point still stanfs,** said Anissa.  **And I'm not correcting that,**  she added.

 

**Smh,** said Eugene, while actually shaking her head.  **Anyway, back to the original point. You can't save Freeland if you get a concussion because you were dumb enough to punch a pile in a junkyard.**

 

**Technically it fell on my back.**

 

**Sorry to break it to you, Harriet, but you won’t be able to save Freeland with a broken spine either.**

 

**Stop calling me that!** said Anissa.

 

**I will when you start acting like the real Harriet and stop making dumb decisions. :P.**

 

***

 

Anissa's euphoria from discovering her superpowers hadn't worn off by the time she got home. Eugene couldn't help but laugh as she practically bounced into the kitchen.

 

"Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine right now."

 

"Actually," said Anissa, "I think rainbow works  better than a ray of sunshine."

 

"Oh, right," said Eugene, realization dawning on her face. "'Cause you're gay."

 

"Yup! Whatcha cookin'?" Anissa asked.

 

"Split pea and ham soup," said Eugene. "Here, try some."

 

Anissa grabbed a spoon from the drawer and dipped it in the pot full of soup. "You know," she said, "I was thinking that if I'm gonna go out there and be a superhero, I need a suit. But where would I get one?"

 

"Oh, I don't know." Eugene sighed. "It'd have to be quality material because you move around with more strength than a regular fighter and you don't want wear and tear. And it'd have to be bulletproof because you don't know if you're completely bulletproof."

 

"That box from the pile fell on me and that didn't hurt," Anissa pointed out, gently blowing on her soup.

 

"But your powers come from your breathing," said Eugene. "If you don't breathe at the right time, you might not be bulletproof and then you're fucked."

 

"True," said Anissa, slurping her soup out of the spoon. "This soup is good by the way."

 

"Thanks," said Eugene. "Anyway, were you thinking of something like Black LIghtning's suit?"

 

"Yeah." Anissa smiled dreamily. She was probably imagining the details of her suit at that moment. "Like something out of a comic book."

 

Eugene raised an eyebrow. "So you're into comic books now?"

 

"Yeah," said Anissa. "Also, I think you'd be a great comic book character."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, you'd probably have lightning powers," said Anissa. 

 

Eugene's stomach tied into knots as she poured the soup into two separate bowls. Anissa's theories were becoming a little _ too _ accurate. "You're just saying that because of my scars."

 

"I mean, you did get hit by lightning as a child in an accident, right? Something like that would definitely create powers."

 

Eugene scoffed. "I wish. All it gave me was more brain damage and even worse walking skills."

 

In a way, Eugene had been hit with lightning many times before, but technically it hadn't been an accident. She got Lichtenberg scars every time she used lightning around her hands, but most of the scars on the rest of her body had come from fighting Black Lightning before he disappeared. 

 

Eugene couldn't exactly tell Anissa that her scars were from being a criminal, so instead, she pretended they were from a childhood accident. And her Cerebral Palsy was the perfect cover because it had similar symptoms to those caused by a lightning strike.

 

"Just imagine it, though!" said Anissa, grinning broadly. "You could be Lightning and I could be Thunder."

 

"Well, Thunder," said Eugene, slightly impressed that Anissa had come up with her own superhero name so quick; it had taken Eugene a few weeks to come up with 'The Conductor' as her gang pseudonym. "I think your dream superhero duo is down to one for now."

 

Anissa puckered out her bottom lip in disappointment.

 

"But," Eugene added playfully, "I'll help you finish this soup."

 

"Figures."

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. Different Shades of Shade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: Anissa gets roasted alive.

A jarring scraping noise jolted Eugene awake. She wouldn't have been surprised if Anissa had pushed her out of the bed to wake her up; Anissa had been doing that since they moved in together. But the mattress underneath her confirmed that she wasn't on the floor. Had Anissa gotten carried away with her new powers and pushed the mattress off the bed as well as Eugene?

 

No, she couldn't have pushed the mattress off of the bed because, for some reason, it was slowly moving upwards. Or was that the floor under the mattress moving? Maybe Eugene wasn't even awake and this was part of one of her wacko dreams.

 

"Finally, you're awake!" The sound of Anissa's voice caused Eugene to look up and realize what was happening.

 

Anissa had lifted her entire bed up.

 

Eugene scrunched up her face as she tried to process everything. "What the _fuck_ , Anissa?"

 

Anissa grinned proudly. "I was gonna just push you out, but with these new powers, I decided to change things up. And I wanted to see if I could get it to the ceiling before you woke up."

 

"You're lucky your loud ass breathing didn't wake me up, 'cause then you wouldn't have gotten it off the floor before I kicked your arse," Eugene grumbled, her head dropping back onto her pillow.

 

"You look like you couldn't even kick a stuffed animal right now," said Anissa, putting her hands on her hips. "And don't come for my breathing."

 

"All I'm saying is you sound like Imagine Dragons in Radioactive," said Eugene. "Yahhh ahhh."

 

"I do _not_ sound like that!" Anissa huffed indignantly as Eugene grinned into her pillow.

 

"Yes, you do."

 

Anissa pursed her lips. "Come on, let's get you to church where you have to be respectful."

 

***

  
When Eugene and Anissa arrived at church, they took a seat next to Eugene's mother and the rest of the Pierce family.

  
  
"Long time no see, Anissa," Mom told Anissa, looking down as she cleaned her glasses.

  
  
"I saw you Friday, Aunt Kaiya," Anissa replied, cocking her head to the side.

  
  
"No, I mean it's been a long time since I've seen you at church," Mom said, offering Anissa a small smile. Eugene pursed her lips to stifle her laughter; that smile was phony as fuck.

  
  
From farther down the row, Jennifer met Eugene's eyes, silently making flat O shapes near her forehead with her hands and gradually opening them as she moved them away from her head to sign: "Exposed."

  
  
Eugene snorted quietly before wiping her mouth and straightening her face. "The only reason she came was me being too tired to drive this morning," she said.

  
  
"Don't be judgy, Yoojin!" said Mom, furrowing her eyebrows scornfully. "I'm sure she has decent reasons to not come."

  
  
Eugene's eyebrows shot up her forehead as she leaned into her mother's ear and whispered, "You? Telling me not to be judgy?"

  
  
"You gotta be subtle with the insults," Mom whispered back jokingly. "Just then, you sounded like a savage American, not the sophisticated English girl I raised."

 

***

 

Mom could joke about Eugene being a “savage American" all she wanted, but she had no problem being a savage Brit when Eugene fell asleep during Reverend Holt's sermon.

  
  
Freeland Nondenominational Church was a difficult place for most people to fall asleep. Even when the sermons were boring, Reverend Holt was so loud that his volume usually kept you awake. But for Eugene, who had even fallen asleep at a rock concert once, the only thing that could wake her up was Mom's bony elbow jabbing her in the side.

  
  
"Oi! Wake up!"

  
  
"Huh?" Eugene mumbled, glancing around groggily. "Oh. Sorry. Didn’t mean to fall asleep."

  
  
"You're being rude!" said Mom, pushing her into a straighter sitting position.

  
  
"I'm tired," Eugene signed, puffing out her cheeks and then exhaling to emphasize how exhausted she was. "Yesterday was supposed to be my sleeping day, but LaWanda's funeral happened - also, I had to grade a lot of free writes."

  
  
"Then fix your bloomin' sleep schedule!" Mom hissed out loud. Even though she was the one who taught Eugene ASL, she couldn't respond with sign anymore. When Eugene was ten, Mom got scleroderma, a disease that hardened and deformed her fingers, ending her career as an ASL interpreter.

  
  
"I'm trying!" Eugene scrunched up her face despondently as she signed, hoping that Mom would pity her.

  
  
Mom huffed through her nose. "Yes, you're very trying."

  
  
"That pun doesn't work well in ASL," Eugene signed smugly.

  
  
"Oh, hush.”

 

***

 

When Eugene and Anissa finally got home from church, Eugene made a beeline for her bed.

 

She had just fluffed up her pillow and wrapped herself in a cocoon of blankets when suddenly the buzzing sound of a notification rang in her ears. Begrudgingly, she stretched out her arm to reach for her phone. Every cell in her body wanted to sleep, but the notification could've been from Tobias and he didn't give a fuck about how tired she was.

  
  
**Get ready to meet the whale,** said the notification. Eugene let her tongue hang out of her mouth slightly.

  
  
When was she ever going to catch a break?


	10. Are You Going to the March?

"Lady Eve wants me to intervene with the march."

 

Tobias mentioning the march pushed Eugene's lack of sleep to the back of her mind. She had known Reverend Holt's march would get people killed, but now they were getting into specifics and Eugene wasn’t ready.

 

"But you can't go out and about," she protested. "The police will be all over you and it’ll only attract fake Black Lightning more.”

 

“You’re right,” said Tobias. “It will attract Black Lightning, but that’s why you’re coming with me.”

 

Eugene pursed her lips to stop herself from saying something she’d regret later. She couldn’t go to the march. If Mom figured out there was another superpowered person in Freeland who could control lightning, she’d get suspicious. Yes, she believed Eugene’s lies for the last decade, but she wasn’t stupid. There was a reason Eugene only used her powers during the night when the police and the news wouldn’t find her.

 

As if he read her mind, Tobias smiled eerily and said, “Don’t worry. You won’t be out in the open. If everything goes according to plan, my gunman will handle it, but I need a backup plan. Can’t trust these lowlife Negroes.”

 

“I’m one of those Negroes,” said Eugene, puffing out her cheeks.

 

“You are. But you’re smart,” Tobias replied, fondly shaking his finger at her. “And _ that’s _ the difference.”

 

She tried not to roll her eyes at his double standards and internalized racism. “I see.”

 

“You can go now,” he said. “I’ll see you at the march.”

 

Eugene nodded and left as fast as she could without looking too eager to leave. Finally, she could go back to sleep and escape reality for the rest of the day.

 

***

 

“I can’t believe you haven’t seen the Princess Bride before this,” Jennifer told Khalil, grinning slightly as she packed her bags. “What even was your childhood?”

 

Every Thursday after-school, Eugene hosted Film Club, which was a place where students could simply watch movies, discuss them, and eat snacks. Sometimes a lot of people showed up, but today it was just Jennifer, Khalil Payne, and their friend Keisha.

 

“Well, I’ve watched it now,” he replied, absentmindedly rolling Eugene’s walker back and forth with his legs as he sat on it. “No need to be dramatic.”

 

“Good thing, too,” said Jennifer. “Otherwise I’d have to cut ties with you.”

 

Eugene shook her head as she closed Netflix and got up to turn off the projector. “Oi. No shaming.” 

 

“It’s not as bad as that time in sixth grade when she found out I never watched Aladdin before,” said Keisha.

 

Eugene dramatically whipped her head around and glared at Keisha. “Now  _ that’s  _ unforgivable,” she said. “Get out of my classroom.”

 

“Yeah, Keisha. Get out,” said Jennifer, playfully elbowing Keisha so hard she fell out of her chair. Keisha shrieked as she fell on her butt.

 

“Pffffftttt.” Khalil lurched forward as he burst out laughing and ended up sliding off of Eugene’s walker seat and onto the floor. Eugene regretted letting him borrow that now.

 

“You’re a bully!” Keisha huffed at Jennifer.

 

“Okay,” Eugene sighed, bringing the butt of her palm to her forehead. “If one more person falls over, I’m kicking you all out. And keep your hands to yourselves. You aren’t kindergartners.”

 

Jennifer’s grin broadened. “Technically, I elbowed her.”

 

“Hands and elbows. And legs and all other body parts,” Eugene replied, pursing her lips.  “And Khalil, I’m taking my walker back.”

 

“Yeah, sorry about that, Ms. Martin,” he said sheepishly, standing up and awkwardly pushing it over to her. “You know, I don’t know how you do it. I run track and  _ I  _ can’t maneuver your walker properly.”

 

“It’s all just experience,” said Eugene. “I’m sure if you practice enough, you could handle it just fine.”

 

“Speaking of walking,” said Jennifer, “you going to the march, Emart?”

 

Eugene grimaced slightly. The march was the last thing she wanted to talk about.

 

“No. Walking really isn’t my thing.” In a way, it wasn’t all a lie. Even though she  _ was  _ going to the march, she wouldn’t be walking. Hopefully.

 

“Oh, right,” said Jennifer, shaking her head at herself. “Well, Khalil and I are going.”

 

The thought of Jennifer and Khalil being in danger made Eugene sick to her stomach. She couldn’t watch that. Especially if Tobias’ gunman failed and she had to be the one to do it.

 

“Are you sure you wanna do that?” she asked. “The One Hundred will be out for blood.”

 

“We’ll be fine,” Jennifer reassured her. “Anissa’s coming with us.”

 

Eugene’s stomach lurched. Anissa hadn’t said anything to her about going to the march. Was everyone trying to give her gray hairs early?

 

Jennifer frowned when she saw Eugene’s wide eyes. “She didn’t tell you, did she?”

 

“Nope,” said Eugene, looking down at the floor uncomfortably. “But it’s okay. She can handle herself.”

 

“Yeah, Harriet kicks ass!” Keisha said enthusiastically. 

 

“Language, Keisha. People in the hallway can hear you,” said Eugene. Suddenly her foot caught on one of the desks, causing Eugene to fall to her knees.

 

“Shit!” she breathed. 

 

“Language, Emart!” Keisha said in a sing-song voice. Eugene rolled her eyes.

 

“Also, didn’t you say that if one more person falls, you’ll kick us all out?” Jennifer added, grinning down at her. “Does that mean we get to kick you out?”

 

“Oh, hush.”  

  
  
  



	11. Thank God It's Friday

Dread weighed Eugene down when she woke up Friday morning. The only thing motivating her to get out of bed was the fact that Mom would be pissed if she wasn't on time for their morning Hoon Dok Hae sessions.

 

Hoon Dok Hae was a tradition from a church Eugene's mother had once attended called the Unification Movement. It was a Korean word that roughly translated to "gathering for reading and learning." The actual tradition involved getting up early in the morning and reading something to spiritually start the day off right.

 

One of the main aspects of Hoon Dok Hae in the Unification Movement was that you had to be spiritually invested and anything that distracted you was Satan. Eugene knew she wasn't going to be spiritually invested at all that morning, but there was something comforting about thinking of Tobias and the One Hundred as Satan. After all, they were the people who started all of this mess.

 

By the time Eugene finally psyched herself into getting up, Anissa had already left. So Eugene sat in the kitchen alone, thinking of ways she could convince Anissa not to go to the march. She didn't know why she sat there for so long; she'd lost her appetite and didn't even eat anything. Moping in the kitchen wouldn't help anyone, but Eugene didn't want to face Mom and do Hoon Dok Hae either.

 

"Well, aren't you just a bouncing ball of energy," Mom told her when she opened the door. 

 

"Not really," said Eugene, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

 

Mom stared up at the ceiling, sighing heavily. "Bloomin' heck, you're too tired to detect sarcasm. Come on, let's get you inside and read something interesting. True Father's autobiography sound good?"

 

True Father was the founder of the movement. Pretty much every Unificationist had heard or read at least some of his autobiography, but Eugene didn't mind reading it again. At least she could pretend to pay attention.

 

Clumsily entering the living room, Eugene followed Mom to the offering table where they prepared to bow to the picture of True Father and his wife.

 

"Hananim Abeoji, Cham Bumonim," Mom said reverently.  _ Heavenly Father, True Parents.  _ "Kyung nae."  _ Bow. _

 

Even with a hip replacement, Mom bowed properly, using the couch to gracefully get onto the floor one knee at a time. But when Eugene did it, she just ended up falling flat on her face. 

 

Mom let out a restrained cough before continuing the ritual. "Bah ro."  _ Return to starting position.  _

 

Eugene groaned. She really didn't want to get up.

 

"I said--" Mom didn't even try to contain her grin as she stood up and looked down at Eugene. "-- _ bah ro _ ."

 

"Stop laughing at meee!" Eugene whined, glaring up at her.

 

"I'll stop laughing at you when you  _ get up _ , you useless lesbian." Mom rolled her eyes. "Come on, we don't have all morning."

 

'I'm pansexual, actually."

 

"Well, either way, you're useless right now, so please get up!"

 

***

 

"Since you were a slowpoke getting up, it's your turn to do opening prayer," Mom told Eugene as they finally sat down to read. 

  
  
Eugene huffed.

  
  
"Come on," said Mom. "It's just talking to God. God's lonely. They want to hear from you. You can pray with your eyes open if closing them feels too weird or makes you fall asleep."

  
  
Eugene didn't think praying was weird; there were much weirder things in her life than talking to invisible beings. She just felt guilty for praying. Joining the One Hundred hadn't stopped her from believing in God, but it had damaged her relationship with Them. Why would God want to hear from her, of all people?

  
  
But of course, she couldn't tell Mom all of that. "Fine. I'll pray," she said, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes. 

  
  
"Uh...Dear, Heavenly Parent. I thank You for waking me up this morning. I pray that You can keep me awake during Hoon Dok Hae and help me appreciate it. I pray that You keep everyone going to Reverend Holt's march safe.

  
  
_ And I understand if You ignore this prayer because I'm the last one who should be saying it, but I really don't want Anissa or any of them to die. I'd say sorry, but You're probably tired of hearing it, _ she added silently. "Uh...I pray this in my name. Aju.”

  
  
"Everything okay, darling?" Mom asked, caressing Eugene's cheek and brushing away a tear. 

  
  
Eugene hadn't even noticed that she'd been crying. This was why she didn't pray. "Just my eyes watering. Sleepiness and all," she replied, smiling feebly. "You were right. I probably should've kept my eyes open." 

 

"You sure you're okay?"

 

"I'm just tired," Eugene insisted

 

"My Mother Phony Detector is going off the charts,” said Mom, tilting her head as her eyes bore into Eugene with a piercing look. “I can tell when you're fibbing, baby."

 

That only made Eugene feel worse. If Mom knew the number of times Eugene had fibbed and lied - if she knew what Eugene lied about - she would've smacked Eugene upside the head with her cane. And if Eugene still lived with her, she would've kicked her out, too.

 

But if Eugene clammed up more, Mom would only get nosier, so she decided to tell the truth. Or at least some of it.

 

"I'm just worried about the march," she said. "Jennifer and Khalil are going."

 

Mom frowned. "They are? I hope someone's going with them."

 

"Anissa is, but--"

 

"Oooh, that's even worse," Mom said, grimacing.

 

"Yeah," said Eugene. Mom had finished her thoughts for her. "I just...what if they--?" 

 

"Shhh. If you don't say it, it's less likely to happen."

 

Eugene buried her head in her hands. It was going to happen whether she said it or not. And there was nothing she could about it.

 

“Can we just read?”

  
  
  



	12. For Family

After her mini-breakdown during Hoon Dok Hae, Eugene quickly steeled herself. Moping wouldn't help anyone, so why did she keep telling herself that while continuing to mope? She had students to teach. She couldn't let her bad day ruin theirs - especially when an inevitable tragedy loomed over them.

 

“Are you sure you're alright?”  Mom asked as they drove to Garfield together. 

 

“I’m hanging in there,” said Eugene.

 

“Okay, then. If you ever need to talk to me, I’m here.”

 

Eugene puffed out her cheeks. “Mom, really, I’ll be fine.”

 

She appreciated her mother's sentiment, but talking wouldn’t stop people from getting hurt. Maybe she could talk to Anissa and convince her not to go to the march, but even that was unlikely. Anissa cared about actions, not words.

***

 

“You didn’t tell me you were going to the march,” Eugene said at lunch. 

 

Anissa sighed heavily as she picked at her salad. “Because I knew you’d look at me like that.”

 

“Well, I really thought you’d prefer me giving you a funny look over going to a march and getting shot,” Eugene replied, pointedly looking down at her sandwich. “But I get it. We all have different priorities.”

 

“Eugene, I’ll be fine,” said Anissa. “I have powers,” she added in ASL so no one would hear her.

 

“Oh, yes. I forgot.” Eugene mockingly exaggerated her mouth movements as she bobbed her fist up and down. “You can kick a washer machine and break a sink. That helps a lot.”

 

“Dad taught me self-defense,” Anissa argued. “Without powers.”

 

“Suppose they have guns!” Eugene signed so passionately that her hand hit the table as she signed GUN. “You don’t know if you’re bulletproof or not!”

 

“That doesn’t matter,” signed Anissa. “Jen wants to go and I have to support her. She’s family. You would do anything for Aunt Kaiya. Right?”

 

“Yes.” Eugene nodded, frowning. She would do anything for Mom. That was why she was in this mess in the first place.

 

***

 

The awkwardness from Eugene and Anissa’s conversation at lunch seeped into their time spent together at home. They sat at opposite ends of the living room while Eugene graded the five hundred word her first-period class' free writes and Anissa did her homework. 

 

Usually, they exchanged a few words every so often as they worked. But today, they sat in silence and the television being off didn’t help at all. Instead of helping Eugene focus, it just made everything more awkward.

 

“I prepared dinner for you in the morning. It’s in the fridge,” said Anissa, finally breaking the silence.

 

“You aren’t going to eat dinner with me?” Eugene asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

 

Fridays were Anissa’s days to cook and while Eugene frequently prepared meals beforehand to manage her time better, Anissa was terrible at managing time. So if she prepared meals earlier, it was probably because she wasn’t going to be home at all for dinner.

 

“Oh, damn, that’s right. I forgot to tell you,” Anissa said, rubbing her temples. “I got invited to a cosplay party tonight at the Ruby Red Lipstick before the march. I would’ve invited you if I remembered to tell you.”

 

“Nah, don’t worry about it. That’s not really my thing.” Eugene already spent her nights working for the One Hundred in a costume. Going to the cosplay party would just more of pretending to be something she wasn’t. “Is Chenoa going?”

 

Anissa hung her head. “Uh...I might’ve forgotten to tell her too.”

 

Eugene turned on Anissa with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “Girl, you need to get your life together.”

 

“I know, I know,” Anissa said sheepishly. “I’ll make it up to her.”

 

“But anyway, have fun,” said Eugene. “Stay safe.”

 

“I will.”

 

***

 

While Anissa went to her cosplay party, Eugene skipped dinner entirely and took a short nap. The only reason she wanted to have dinner was to spend time with Anissa and make up for their tense conversation at lunch. 

 

The obnoxious alarm on her phone pulled her out of her slumber, but it was a knock on the door that made her get out of bed. Jennifer and Ms. Stewart had come to meet up with Anissa to go to the march.

 

“Oh, hi, Ms. Stewart,” she said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “I didn’t know you were coming too.”

 

“Well, I thought the march would be some quality family time,” said Mrs. Stewart. “So...here I am. Do you know where Anissa is?”

 

Eugene scoffed quietly. If Tobias was successful, the march would definitely not be “quality family time.” Although, for Mr. Pierce’s sake, she had to hope that he wasn’t now that Ms. Stewart was coming. Mr. Pierce didn’t deserve to go through the pain of losing all three of his family members.

 

“I...don’t know, actually,” Eugene said sheepishly. “I was sleeping just then. She had a party to go to before this, so she’s either on her way or upstairs. Um...feel free to sit down.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Anissa came out of her room dressed and ready to go the march. Jennifer jumped at the chance to pick at her.      

 

“Took you long enough. We thought you’d be ready.”

 

Anissa rolled her eyes before gesturing to Eugene. “She didn’t tell you I was getting changed?”

 

Jennifer grinned mischievously. “Eugene was sleeping.”

 

Eugene scowled at Jennifer’s tactics. Now, instead of bickering with Jennifer, Anissa turned on Eugene.

 

“You need to get your life together,” Anissa said with narrowed eyes.

 

“I know you ain’t talking.”

  
  
  



	13. Human Stupidity

After everyone left, Eugene waited roughly twenty minutes before she got changed and went to meet Tobias. She didn't need someone coming back to retrieve forgotten items and seeing her in her suit.

 

Tobias and Sy were sitting in a black Toyota when Eugene arrived. The car was the most conspicuous car she had ever seen.

 

“I thought the plan was to be stealthy,” she said.

 

Tobias narrowed his eyes. “It is.”

 

“Well, someone’s gonna see us in that. It doesn’t even have tinted windows.”

 

“Are you questioning me?” he asked. As Eugene broke eye contact, she saw him cracking his knuckles.

 

“No.”

 

“Good.” The smugness in Tobias’ voice made Eugene’s stomach churn. “We have work to do.”

 

Eugene sat in the backseat next to Sy as they scouted the city for the marchers. Tobias already knew the planned march route because of his access to Freeland PD’s computer system, but for some reason, no one was marching where they should’ve been.

 

“Dammit,” Tobias growled. “They must’ve changed the route at the last minute to avoid us.”

 

“We should be able to follow the gunshots,” Sy suggested.

 

Eugene’s chest tightened. She didn’t want to hear the gunshots. Someone was going to die tonight, but she didn’t want to know when.

 

But she couldn’t cover her ears - not with her helmet on. Sy would notice and she couldn’t show any sign of hesitation. So she just screwed her eyes shut and sank further into her seat. Maybe that would tune out everything.

 

It didn’t. The gunshots pierced Eugene’s ears like needles, firing one after the other in quick succession. It was oddly silent except for the gunshots, though. No one was screaming. Maybe Black Lightning had saved the day after all.

 

Of course, if the gunman failed, Eugene would have to handle Black Lightning and kill all those people. She couldn’t do that. Even if Sy finished the job, she’d still have to watch. 

 

Silence followed the gunshots, leaving their trail cold for a few moments. But then the sounds of “Amazing Grace” rang out and led them straight to the marchers.

 

Eugene’s heart pounded as the driver pulled up in front of the crowd. How could anyone not see the black car sitting right in front of them? She had to use all of her willpower to not scream at them for being so fucking stupid.

 

“No, no, no, no!” Tobias growled as he rolled down his window. “He’s supposed to be dead!”

 

Seeing Black Lightning - or rather, Mr. Pierce - up close made Eugene want to vomit. How could she have not noticed that it was him all those years ago? It was so obvious. Suddenly she understood why nobody saw Tobias’ car. Humans were completely oblivious.

 

“Are they singing?” Tobias rambled. “They are singing. That’s why I hate these church-going Negroes. Always praying and singing. Singing and praying.”

 

If it weren’t for the shitty situation at hand, Eugene would’ve found Tobias’ Grinch-like behavior amusing.

 

“They all want to go to heaven, but don’t none of them want to die,” he continued. “Sy, kill that electrified freak.”

 

Eugene buried her head in her hands as Sy positioned the gun, not wanting to see who got hurt. She couldn't. She would get distracted and then botch up the job if Tobias needed her to do something.

 

Nothing prepared Eugene for the single, earsplitting gunshot that rang through the air. Tires screeched as the car raced away from the scene. The combination of screams and sirens made it impossible to hear anything Tobias said.

 

“What?!” Eugene shouted.

 

“Take out the car behind us!” said Sy.

 

Unbuckling her seatbelt, Eugene leaned out the window and shot a stream of lightning at the police car trailing them. The car flipped over and went up in flames.

 

“Good work,” Sy told her. 

 

***

 

Eugene sat on the bathroom floor and stared into space for almost forty minutes before actually changing out of her suit. Every time she committed murder, something inside of her died along with the person she killed. She didn’t want to text Anissa. She didn’t want to check the news. She didn’t even want to brush her teeth even though her mouth felt gross.

 

The sound of a text coming in jolted Eugene out of her daze and made her nearly jump out of her skin. It was Anissa.

 

**I’m okay.**

 

Eugene whimpered in relief.  **Thank God.**

 

**Yeah Khalil’s gonna be okay too. The bullet hit his spine, though.**

 

Eugene’s fingers froze. Khalil was the one who had been shot? This was what she got for not watching the news. How was she supposed to respond to that?

 

Fortunately, Anissa started typing again. **I’m gonna stay with Jen tonight. She’s pretty shaken up. I’ll see you in the morning**

 

A weight lifted off of Eugene’s chest. Anissa not being there meant that Eugene wouldn’t have to hold it together for one whole night. 

 

**Okay,** she texted.  **Stay safe.**

 

**I will.**

 

***

 

When Anissa came home Saturday afternoon, Eugene tripped over herself running to the door and fell flat on her face.

 

“You’re like my old cat trying to greet me at the door,” said Anissa, grinning down at her. “I mean, he didn’t fall on his face doing it, but the resemblance is there.”

 

“Shut up,” Eugene grumbled as she pushed herself onto her feet.

 

“No, I’m not offended. I’m touched.” Anissa smiled softly as she extended her arm. “Now come here.”

 

Eugene melted as Anissa hugged her from the side. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

 

“Yeah, it was a close call, though.” Anissa sighed. “We were all singing and then suddenly Reverend Holt got shot out of nowhere. I feel so  _ stupid  _ for not seeing anything.”

 

“It’s not your fault,” Eugene said quietly.

 

“And apparently a police car got blown up and they’re trying to blame it on Black Lightning. But why would Black Lightning randomly blow up a car? It’s so stupid,” Anissa said, shaking her head. “It’s all so stupid.”

 

Eugene swallowed a lump in her throat. “Yeah. It’s really stupid.”

  
  
  
  
  



	14. Shady Late Night Adventures

The metallic taste of blood settled in Eugene’s mouth as Tobias slammed his fist into her nose. Part of her was grateful that he hadn’t done it while she was standing because then she would’ve toppled over and possibly hit her head. But at the same time, she was starting to worry that he would punch her farther and farther into his sofa and she would just disappear into the cushions.

 

“Look at the mess you’ve gotten me into!” he growled. “Now Lady Eve’s pissed at me because you didn’t help me kill Black Lightning properly!”

 

That’s why Tobias was so pissed. Not only was his worst enemy alive and kicking, but he had been given the same treatment by Lady Eve that he was giving Eugene right now - if not worse. Eugene would rather be choked out by Tobias a million times over than face the wrath of Lady Eve.

 

But even though he had a reason to be pissed, Eugene still didn’t pity him. Killing Black Lightning had been his job as well as hers, but he was just too prideful to put any blame on himself. He was like a child throwing a temper tantrum, except his tantrum got a little more bloody than the average child’s.

 

“But I thought - I thought you said the new Black Lightning was fake,” said Eugene, desperately holding onto a narrative that she didn’t even believe in. “We killed Black Lightning! He couldn’t have survived that fall!”

 

“Well, apparently you didn’t drop him hard enough,” Tobias said coldly, cracking his knuckles as he prepared to punch her again.

 

“I would’ve finished him off if I’d known he wasn’t dead!” she protested. “If anyone should take the blame, it’s the person you asked to check on the body.”

 

Tobias stopped his fist in midair. “Huh. I didn’t think of that.

 

“And like I said,” Eugene went on, “now that I know he’s alive, I’ll work harder to kill him this time.” 

 

“If you were to succeed in killing Black Lightning now,” he mused, stroking his beard, “I suppose I could let you off the hook.”

 

The knot in her stomach relaxed just a bit, but not before Tobias’ usual menacing glare returned.

 

“And you have to clean your blood off my sofa.”

 

Eugene wondered if he also wanted her to clean her blood from his beard since he had touched it with his bloody hands, but she valued Mom’s life too much to say that out loud.

 

As she stood up to go to the bathroom to take care of her injuries and change out of her suit, Eugene trembled nonstop. If she didn’t have her cane with her just then, she might not have been to able to walk at all.

 

“You ain’t gonna kill Black Lightning hobbling around like an old grandma,” Tobias sneered.

 

Eugene pointedly looked down at her feet as she tried to ignore him. Maybe she couldn’t fight Black Lightning right now because of her tired legs, but Tobias couldn’t really fight Black Lightning if they were out in the sun. She hated how mean and ableist he was when some of his struggles were similar to hers.

 

After locking herself in the bathroom, Eugene carefully wiped her face, drained the blood out of her nose, and started looking for anything that might need professional help. Fortunately, her jaw and teeth were still intact and nothing felt numb or out of place. A small dose of ambrosia and nectar would speed up the healing process.

 

Fortunately, cleaning Tobias’ sofa wasn’t too hard either. It was one of the few times she was grateful for getting her period because it gave her experience with getting blood out of fabric. 

 

“You have hydrogen peroxide?” Eugene asked.

 

“Sy, get hydrogen peroxide,” Tobias said as though he were ordering around a voice control program like Siri or Alexa. Maybe that’s why Sy acted like such a robot.

 

When Sy returned with hydrogen peroxide, Eugene quietly thanked her and got to work. It was getting late and Eugene just wanted to go home and crash. 

 

***

 

Before going home, Eugene grabbed groceries from Safeway. Even though Anissa was supposed to be at a family dinner with the Hendersons, Eugene didn’t want to not have an excuse for why she was out and also injured.

 

When Eugene got home at six thirty, Anissa was already sitting on the couch doing homework. That didn’t make any sense. Anissa’s dinner with her family and the Hendersons was set for six. Why had she left that early?

 

Eugene’s eyebrows furrowed as she set the groceries on the kitchen counter. “You’re back early.”

 

“You’re out late,” said Anissa, still looking down at her work. “I thought you’d still be here when I got back.”

 

“I was out buying groceries.”

 

“Oh, good. Did you buy milk?” she asked, glancing up to get a look at the bags. “We’re running low on that - God, what happened to your  _ face _ ?”

 

“I’m fine,” said Eugene.

 

“No, you’re not fine,” said Anissa, her eyes blazing with anger. “Did someone punch you? ‘Cause I’ll find them and kick their ass just like I did with those two punks selling drugs to Neema and Lisa.”

 

Eugene stopped putting groceries in the fridge for a moment and turned on Anissa with narrowed eyes. “You did what to who?”

 

“Don’t change the subject! Tell me what happened to your face. I need to know whose ass I have to kick.”

 

“You’ll have to kick my ass, then,” Eugene told her, inwardly cringing at the thought of Anissa trying to take on Tobias. There was no way that would end well. “I fell on my face.”

 

Anissa raised her eyebrows skeptically. “So hard that you had to wrap your nose?”

 

“Yup,” said Eugene. “Fucked it up on concrete.”

 

“Okay,” said Anissa, head bobbing slightly as she talked. “Let’s say I believe you. Don’t you know how to fall correctly? You’re supposed to break your fall with your hands.”

 

“I didn’t break my fall because my hands were full with groceries,” said Eugene, rolling her eyes. “I  _ know  _ you ain’t lecturing me on falling,” she added playfully. “I’ve been falling properly since before you were born..”

 

“You are literally three years older than me,” said Anissa, shaking her head. “Stop acting like you special.”

 

Eugene smirked. “Still older than you.”

 

“That being said, I  _ don’t  _ believe you,” said Anissa. “You just don’t want to me get into a fight.”

 

“That’s just too bad, then,” said Eugene, “because I’m telling the truth and the only person you’re gonna have to fight is me.”

 

***

 

Eugene impatiently drummed her fingers against her helmet as she counted off the dealers who were supposed to go with her for that night's run. For some reason, one of them wasn't there on time. And even though she didn't like to wait, she didn't want to go find and punish him either. She needed to track down Black Lightning, not spend her time electrocuting street-level thugs for being late.

 

"Where's Block?" she asked the rest of the group.

 

"At home," said Gris. "He just got back from the hospital."

 

Eugene wrinkled her nose. "The hospital? Why?"

 

Gris gazed down at the ground, hesitating for a moment. Eugene's fingers crackled with electricity.

 

"Come on, spit it out. I don't have all bl--fucking night," she demanded, trying to suppress her accent. If anyone heard the English cursing, they'd immediately know it was her under the helmet, but at the same time, she was honestly too tired for this shit. 

 

"Black Lightning," said Gris, glancing nervously at the lightning crackling around her hand. "Black Lightning got him."

  
The electricity around Eugene's hand subsided. "Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. But before she could enjoy the small victory, her stomach tied into knots. 

 

She shouldn't have been so hopeful about finding a lead to help her assassinate her best friend's dad. But if she didn't kill Black Lightning, Mom would die and that tied her stomach into even tighter knots. Maybe if she looked at things from that point of view, she'd feel better about it.

  
  
And at least if she had to torture Block, it was for something useful.

 


	15. Pick Your Lightning

“What the fuck, boss?”

 

Eugene’s back burned with fatigue as she floated in midair at Block’s bedroom window with her legs crossed. Sitting up straight on the ground was hard enough, but doing it in midair gave her a stretch good enough to last her a week. Technically, she could’ve stood up instead of floating, but that would’ve ruined the effect. She wanted to creep him out a bit before she got information out of him.

 

“What?” she asked nonchalantly.

 

“What you floating outside my window for?” he demanded.

 

“Did you want me to use the door?” she said, grinning inwardly. “‘Cause I’m sure that would go over well with your mother.”

 

Block sighed. “Fine. You got a point. But you could...stand at the window like a normal person. I’m on the first floor. No need for all that magician shit.”

 

“I need the workout.”

 

“Alright, okay,” he said, looking skeptically. “Anyway, why did you come?”

 

“I heard you got into some mess with Black Lightning,” said Eugene, cutting the playfulness out of her voice. “What did you tell him?” 

 

Block didn’t meet her eyes. “I didn’t tell him nothing.”

 

Eugene popped the screen out of his window and climbed into his bedroom. Blocked stumbled backward as she fell flat on her face.

 

“Uh...you okay, boss?” 

 

Eugene scowled. She wanted her victims to be scared of her, not worried about her.

 

“I’m fine,” she said, using his nightstand to get up. “But you won’t be if you don’t cough up. What did you tell him?”

 

“I’m telling you - I didn’t tell him nothing!”

 

“You told him somethin’. You wouldn’t be here if you told him nothing.” Eugene’s hands crackled with electricity as she backed him against the wall. “So - I’mma ask one more time. What did you tell him?”

 

Block gulped. “He said that if I snitch he would light me up.”

 

She grabbed his arm and shocked him. “I can light you up, too. Faster than he can at this.” 

 

“Fine, fine!” he gasped. “He wanted to know who’s selling Green Light and I told him about Two-Bits. So he probably went to Two-Bits.”

 

“See how easy that was?” said Eugene, using the wall to get back the window. “Things are so much better when you just comply.”

 

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Block, scratching his head. “Uh...you gonna put my screen when you leave?”

 

“Yeah, sure.” As she climbed out the window, her foot caught on the edge and she fell flat on her face again. Block rushed to the window to check on her.

 

“Are you--?”

 

“I’m fine!” 

 

***

 

Silence fell over Tanner’s Taproom when Eugene walked in. Moments before, everyone was talking and laughing. Now the only noise was the restaurant’s music and pool balls gently hitting the side of the table.

 

“I had a feeling you would come,” Two-Bits said, shaking his head. His eyes were red with exhaustion and he had extensive burns on his face. Black Lightning had definitely got to him.

 

“Yeah, yeah, let’s get this over with. What did you tell Black Lightning?”

 

“Look, can’t you find another lead to torture?” Two-Bits asked. “Black Lightning said that if I got into any sketchy stuff, he would come find me.”

 

Two-Bits’ buddies exchanged nervous glances, probably waiting for her to get angry. But Eugene just sighed. She was too tired for this shit.

 

“Just tell me what you told him. And you don’t need to worry about him coming after you because I’m gonna kill him.”

 

“You gonna  _ what _ ?”

 

“I’m gonna kill him,” she repeated. “And I’m gonna kill you too if you don’t start talking.”


	16. Don't Fight With Your Boss

Eugene did not, in fact, kill Mr. Pierce.

 

After the threat of murder, Two-Bits immediately revealed that he had sent Mr. Pierce to a Green Light warehouse that re-stocked every Thursday. Mr. Pierce was at the Green Light warehouse just like Two-Bits had said he would be. He wasn’t trying to hide it either. Eugene saw his glowing, neon suit from blocks away. 

 

After locating him, she hid at the base of the building he was perched on. From her hiding spot under the threshold’s overhead covering, she heard him conversing with someone even though no one else was there.

 

“Damn, Gambi, you’ve been holding out on me,” said Mr. Pierce. “If I knew you could give me x-ray vision, I’d have come out of retirement years ago.”

 

Eugene inhaled sharply. So Gambi was Black Lightning’s sidekick and he had probably made that new high-tech suit too. She knew he was a suit tailor, but she didn’t think that extended to super suits. And not only that, he had somehow given Mr. Pierce x-ray vision. 

 

“I see everything,” Mr. Pierce continued.

 

.Eugene flattened her back against the wall in an attempt to hide more. Although, he sounded more amazed than smug or sinister, so he probably hadn’t seen her yet.

 

“From the looks of things here, this Green Light is bigger than the One Hundred. I mean, no street gang is this organized. Professional drivers, temperature controlled eighteen wheelers, and a warehouse that looks like it’s being guarded by special ops.”

 

He was probably right about Green Light being bigger than the One Hundred. Not only was there Lady Eve’s cartel, there was the ASA. Eugene didn’t have too much information on them, but they were the ones who had discovered her powers, experimented on them, and connected her to the One Hundred. She wouldn’t have been surprised if they had something to do with Green Light too.

 

“Alright, I’m gonna follow this truck,” said Mr. Pierce. “See what I can find.”

 

Eugene positioned her canes as she prepared to follow him. But before either of them moved, a booming explosion sounded off in the distance.

 

“I don’t know. It was close by Sounded like an explosion,” Mr. Pierce told Gambi. Another explosion rang in the air. “I’m gonna check that out.” After a moment’s pause, he indignantly added, “The explosions could be connected to what we’re looking for. Plus, people could be hurt.”

 

Eugene doubted the explosions were connected to Green Light. But Green Light had been known to give people super strength, so maybe someone had gotten high and went on a rampage. 

 

As he leaped off the building, Eugene dashed after him, using the wind to help her glide along at his pace. She couldn't go too high, though. Eventually, someone would notice that her feet weren’t really touching the ground and she couldn’t risk Mr. Pierce seeing her until she was ready.

 

The source of the explosion ended up being the Ruby Red Lipstick Bar. Whoever caused the explosion had left gaping craters in the ground and Eugene had an idea about the culprit was. The Ruby Red Lipstick was a lesbian bar. There was only one lesbian she knew capable of leaving craters that deep in the ground.

 

But she could deal with Anissa’s problems later. She was there to handle Black Lightning. Although, in a way, that was related to Anissa too. It was her dad who Eugene had been sent to kill.

 

“Can you tap into the cameras in my location?” Mr. Pierce asked Gambi from is spot on a ramp behind the main entrance.

 

Dammit. Eugene had forgotten about the cameras. She’d have to fry those when she was done.

 

“Okay, I’m going back to the factory. See if I can find anything.”

 

Not wanting him to leave, Eugene partially lifted her hand off one cane and sucked the electricity out of his suit. Now was the time.

 

Mr. Pierce stared down at his hands in confusion. “What the hell?” 

 

Eugene stepped out of her hiding place. “Hi!” 

 

“You!” he spat.

 

“Long time no see,” said Eugene. Fortunately, her helmet had a voice modifier. Otherwise, Mr. Pierce would’ve immediately recognized her and realized she had really seen him that morning.

 

Mr. Pierce glowered down at her and prepared to jump off the ramp. As he jumped, Eugene sucked the electricity out of the remaining lights, plunging the surrounding area into darkness. She felt like Dumbledore when he blew out Privet Drive’s street lights with the Deluminator, which would’ve been pretty cool if she wasn’t trying to kill her boss at that moment.

 

Feet away from her, Eugene heard a thud as Mr. Pierce landed on the ground. It was too dark to see him, but she saw the electromagnetic radiation coming from his body. Maybe that was the vision Gambi had given him. Electric vision, not x-ray vision.

 

“Can’t see me now, huh?” she said tauntingly. 

 

“I still know where you are, you little bitch!” he said, lunging at her. 

 

Eugene glided around him and pinned him to the ground with her cane from behind. Letting out a low growl, he wrapped his hand around the cane and flipped her onto her back. Unfazed, Eugene swept him off his feet with a small gust of wind. Before he could recover, she tackled him with her whole body, buffeting him with wind every time he struggled. 

 

“Fight me with lightning, you coward!”

 

“That’d be...counterproductive, sir,” Eugene panted. Her arms were too tired for this, she had no core strength, and he was a fucking Olympic athlete. As far as strength went, she was screwed. 

 

Mr. Pierce faltered. “Sir? That’s a new one.”

 

Shit. She shouldn’t have called him sir. She didn’t need her teacher manners coming through while she was fighting. 

 

But this time, it was good for her. Now he was distracted and she had time to take out her gun.

 

“Just...just tryna be polite.” Eugene’s heart pounded as she slid the first shell forward and put her finger the trigger. She wasn’t ready for this. She would never be ready for this.

 

“Oh, I see.” Mr. Pierce’s voice oozed with venom. “You’re tryna be polite while you’re holdin’ a gun to my face. That’s real nice.”

 

Eugene ignored him. She couldn’t shoot while she was breathing like this. She couldn’t let him get to her. She had to calm down.

 

But Mr. Pierce didn’t let her calm down. Life didn’t let her calm down. The sudden burst of electricity from behind her definitely didn’t give her time to calm down as Mr. Pierce sucked it into his suit and blasted her backward.

 

A barrage of gunshots rang in her ears. She had accidentally pulled the trigger and bullets were flying everywhere. In midair, she let go of the trigger, but the damage was already. When Eugene hit the ground, she was covered in bullets. For some reason, they had all ricocheted.

 

Heart pounding even harder now, Eugene sat up and frantically surveyed the area, gripping her gun. Hopefully, she had just fucked up someone’s car real bad, but judging by Mr. Pierce’s facial expression, it was something much worse.

 

“Those bullets won’t work,” said a familiar voice. Eugene dropped her gun.

 

She had shot Anissa. 

 

Fuck.

 

_ Fuck. _

 

With one ground-breaking stomp, Anissa sent Eugene flying. Rocking on her heels, Eugene boosted herself onto the nearest ramp. From the ramp, she leaped toward the nearest building, but her legs were too shaky and she missed the roof by inches, her knees scraping against the wall as she plunged to the ground. Eugene cringed; she knew she couldn’t get cut by something as mundane as a brick wall, but the sound was just as grating.

 

The impact of hitting the ground shot through her legs like one of Anissa’s shockwaves and Eugene fell to her knees, letting out a small sob. All the fatigue and sweat from the fight hit her all at once, temporarily incapacitating her. She couldn’t move; she didn’t want to move; she didn’t even know where she would go if she did move.

 

She couldn’t go back to the apartment because of Anissa. She couldn’t go back to Tobias because he would kill her for not finishing the job. She definitely couldn’t go back to the bar and finish the job because of Anissa. 

 

Fucking Anissa. She had shot Anissa. What if Anissa had breathed at the wrong moment and gotten hurt? What if she hadn’t been bulletproof at all? She would’ve died because Eugene followed stupid orders and tried to kill her own dad. God, that sounded so horrible in Eugene’s head. It  _ was  _ so, so horrible.

 

What the fuck was she gonna do?

  
  
  
  
  
  



	17. Off the Hook...For Now

Silence fell over the parking lot as the Conductor disappeared into the night and Jefferson stared at Anissa, eyes wide with shock. Her shirt was covered with bullet holes, but somehow she still stood upright as though nothing had hit her.

 

"You're welcome," she said breathlessly, grinning up at him.

 

Jefferson scoffed. She had just been shot and she was _grinning_? If she hadn't been bulletproof, she would've died. Nothing about this situation was good. Lynn would kill him for the powers alone.

 

"I had everything handled without you," he said gruffly.

 

Anissa looked down at the ground as she made a disparaging noise. "Yeah, if being pinned to the ground at gunpoint is what you call 'handled.'"

 

Jefferson spluttered. "Did you just suck your teeth at me, little girl?!"

 

Anissa snorted. "Okay, _Dad_."

 

Jefferson opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to respond. After a few moments of awkward silence, Anissa cocked an eyebrow at him.

 

"You good?" she asked.

 

"Jeff, she was being sarcastic," Gambi said through the intercom, sounding half exasperated, half amused. "She doesn't actually know your identity."

 

"How do you know?!" Jefferson growled.

 

"Okay," said Anissa, "now I know why people are iffy about you. But it's not because you're violent. It's 'cause you crazy."

 

"Look, just because you finished the fight doesn't mean you all that and a bag of chips! Your stupidass hood wasn't doing anything to hide your face, so that girl who attacked me? She knows who you are and what you can do. And now she's gonna go to her boss and tell him! And then they're going to come for you and your family and kill all of you. You want your family to die?"

 

Anissa's eyes blazed with defiance. "No, that's why I'm going to protect my family."

 

"You ain't gon' do nothing. Leave it to the professionals," Jefferson told her, before taking off into the night to find the Conductor.

 

"Some professional you are!" she called after him.

 

***

 

Eugene's heart pounded as she entered Tobias' living room, making sure to stay close to the door in case she needed to make a quick exit. Tobias looked up at her expectantly.

 

"Is he dead?"

 

"No." There was no point in lying. Eventually, Mr. Pierce would show his face again and she would be in even more trouble for lying.

 

Tobias' chair slammed against the back wall as he jumped to his feet and stormed towards her, harpoon gun in hand. Eugene stumbled backward, aiming for the door, but hitting the door instead and falling on her back

 

"Well, why the hell not?!"

 

"It’s not my fault! It’s not my fault!" Eugene cried, using her elbows to push herself into a sitting position. "It’s the new suit! He sucks out all my electricity and stores it in his suit!"

 

"Well, why didn’t you power it down and kick his ass?!” he demanded. “You forgot how to control electricity?!"

 

"Like, I told you. It’s the suit!" It was a bullshit excuse and Eugene knew it, but she couldn't let Tobias find about Anissa. At least Mr. Pierce had some experience; Anissa had just discovered she was bulletproof and didn't know how to really control her powers ninety percent of the time.

 

Just as Eugene got to her feet, Tobias whipped out his harpoon gun and shot her in the shoulder. Eugene let out a loud yelp, rolling on the floor in agony.

 

"That’s right, blame the damn suit!" he growled.

 

"It wouldn’t let me," she insisted, gripping her shoulder to stop the bleeding. "If I could - If I could figure out how it works, I could beat him. We - we just need to figure out who made the suit."

 

Tobias grabbed the harpoon, twisting it slowly as he dug it deeper into her shoulder. "You seem to be pinning this on everyone but yourself."

 

Tears clouded Eugene's vision. Mom's life depended on this, dammit. She needed him to believe her bullshit. Everyone else had for the last nine years. Why couldn't he?

 

"I tried my hardest!" she said through grit teeth. "I’m not just doing this for you."

 

"You better try harder," said Tobias, "because one more failure after I see the suit maker and I won’t come after you. I’ll come after your mother and you’ll find her dead on her living room floor."

 

"O-okay."

 

"And get your bloody ass off my floor."

 

"O-okay."

  
  



	18. Answering the Hard Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated in almost 3 weeks! Here's an extra long chapter to make up for that. Bit of a trigger warning for hospitalization...'cause you know, she got stabbed with a harpoon last chapter. So if you get triggered by ambulances and stuff like that, this isn't for you. Enjoy!

"What did I say about getting your ass off my floor?!"

 

Tears still rolling down her cheeks, Eugene pushed down the several novel-worthy retorts running through her mind. She didn’t need Tobias shooting her other shoulder. She had enough problems already. 

 

"I will," she told him. “I just need to, um, deal with…” She glanced down at her bleeding shoulder. “...this.”

 

Tobias scowled. "Sy, bandage her up. I'll call Lupe’s people." 

 

As he scrolled through his phone, his eyes bore into Eugene, making her stomach tie into knots. "You realize, Eugene, that if you need help, you just need to open your damn mouth and ask for it--?”

 

Suddenly the phone picked up. “Oh, hi, Catherine. We need an emergency team over here. Eugene got stabbed...with a harpoon...Yes, I did it. What about it?”

 

Tobias’ voice stayed infuriatingly casual as he answered the dispatcher’s questions. Of course he was calm. He wasn’t the one with a bloody harpoon lodged in his shoulder.

 

“Is she breathing?” His mouth curled upwards slightly as he glanced at Eugene. “Are you breathing, Eugene?”

 

Eugene grunted, baring her teeth. Oh, what she would give to punch him at that moment. He was really tryna get punched.  

 

Tobias chuckled. “She’s breathing.”

 

He knew she wanted to make him hurt and he knew she couldn’t do it. Even if she could, it wouldn’t make a difference. He would never be scared of her or take her seriously. Not when he laughed at her pain.

 

Moments later, Sy came in with bandages. Eugene’s hands trembled as she struggled to hold the harpoon and stop it from wrecking her insides; it had to weigh fifty pounds at least.

 

“Sir, the harpoon is making this difficult,” said Sy. “I can’t hold it and bandage her up at the same the time. Can you help me?”

 

Eugene shuddered as Tobias came over to help. His breath tickled her neck and she almost wished she wasn’t breathing so she didn’t have to be suffocated by his presence.

 

“See how much easier everything is when you ask for help? If you had asked someone to help you up and been proactive about getting off my floor, I wouldn’t be mad. But instead, you just sat there like a ragdoll. And that’s unacceptable.”

 

An animalistic noise came from Eugene’s throat. He was so close now that she could possibly bite him. She wouldn’t, but she could.

 

As Tobias finished his lecture, the sound of sirens approached from outside. 

 

“They’re here,” he said.

 

A team of paramedics materialized out of the darkness. As the familiar head of curly blonde hair came into view, a weight lifted off Eugene’s chest.

 

“Lupe.”

 

Lupe’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration as they kneeled beside Eugene.

 

“I got you, little Martin.”

 

***

 

Eugene hated the ambulance. She couldn’t hear shit because too many people were talking at once in medical jargon that she couldn’t understand. She couldn’t see shit because everything was too bright. It was like a classroom of rambunctious students, except with more blood and more pain. And at least she could say she signed up for dealing with the students. She definitely hadn’t signed up for this.

 

While one paramedic took her vitals, the other one stabilized the harpoon and bombarded her with questions. 

 

“What?” Eugene shouted over the sirens.

 

“You got any allergies?”

 

“Um..no.” There was that one time she had broken out with hives after eating too much sodium, but that had been after having Mexican food, KFC, and Panera bread in one day. She wasn’t really allergic to salt or sodium. 

 

Sirens drowned out the paramedic's next question. Eugene tried to use her ASL experience to partially lipread, but it really wasn’t the same without the signs. All she caught was “mat cushion.” 

 

“What?”

 

“Medication?” they shouted. “Have you taken it?”

“Just ambrosia and nectar.”

 

“How much?”

 

Eugene’s mind went blank. She didn’t really think about much ambrosia and nectar she took whenever she got injured. At this point, all she knew was that she had a certain spoon that she used that was enough to work but not enough to make her literally burn up. 

 

“Oh...fuck. A teaspoon? Tablespoon? Tablespoon. Just when I’m injured.”

 

“Have you been injured recently?”

 

“Um...Tobias...he screwed up my face pretty bad,” said Eugene, brushing a free hand against her still healing face. That had happened just a few days ago. God, she had so many issues.

 

“When?”

 

“Two or three days ago. Fuck. For the allergies, I forgot about celestial bronze.”

 

The paramedic sighed. “Well, I know that. That’s what you got stabbed with. Right?”

 

“Unless there’s another metal that can get through demigod skin, yeah.”

 

“Have you been eating normally?” 

 

Eugene pulled a face.  s“I guess?”

 

“Okay, did you eat dinner before this?” 

 

Did she have dinner? Today was her day to cook, but after all the mess that happened, she’d forgotten whether or not she had actually cooked. And what if Anissa came home to no leftovers? How would she explain that?

 

“Eugene?”

 

Oh, right. Anissa didn’t need leftovers. She had been at the bar. She was a part of all this mess.

 

Now Eugene wished she only had to explain the missing leftovers.

 

“I’m not sure,” she said. “Sorry...all of this. It’s a lot.”

 

“That’s okay,” said the paramedic. “Don’t apologize. And we’re here.”

 

***

 

After a few minutes with the emergency doctor, they took Eugene straight to the operating room. Suddenly she realized why they asked her if she had dinner. You weren’t supposed to eat before a surgery, were you? Shit shit shit. That couldn’t be good. 

 

“Will me eating make the anesthesia not work?” she asked one of the staff.

 

“It might make you aspirate, but we need to worry about getting this harpoon out of you first,” they said.

 

Eugene gulped. She had no idea what aspirating was, but they put the anesthesia in before she could ask. The last thing she remembered was someone pushing down on her throat before everything went black.

 

***

 

The lights flickered relentlessly as Jefferson anxiously paced around the hideout, still struggling to process everything. An hour of searching and he still hadn’t found the Conductor. She could be anywhere. She could be telling Tobias about Anissa’s powers right now and Anissa could be killed.

 

Anissa  _ had  _ almost gotten killed. And it was his fault. If he hadn’t come back as Black Lightning, the Conductor wouldn’t have come back. He had come back to save her life, but now his work was threatening it.  

 

Gambi pushed himself away from his glitching computer, sighing heavily and breaking Jefferson out of his hysteria.

 

"Jefferson, calm down."

 

Jefferson whipped around to face Gambi incredulously. "My daughter has powers and you're telling me to calm down?!" 

 

"Freaking out won't help Anissa!" 

 

"And on top of that," he continued, ignoring Gambi's protest, "the Conductor is back, which means Tobias is back. So now Tobias probably knows about Anissa!"

 

"You don't know that," said Gambi. "You don't even know that the Conductor knows it was Anissa--"

 

Jefferson rolled his eyes. "Come on, Gambi. You know she knows. That hood did nothing to hide her face. And like I said, if the Conductor knows, Tobias knows. He already killed my father and almost killed me. I'm not letting him anywhere near Anissa. We need to come up with a plan--"

 

"We will come up with a plan,” said Gambi. “But if you’re so worried about Anissa, go check on her. Get Lynn and her over here and explain everything.”

 

Jefferson stopped in his tracks. Lynn. He hadn’t told Lynn. He hadn’t even thought about telling Lynn or Anissa or anyone.

 

“Oh, God,” he murmured, staring up at the ceiling. “I have to tell them, don’t I?”

 

“Yeah,” said Gambi. “You do.”

 

Dammit.

 


	19. We Need to Talk to Anissa

“Eugene? You here?”

 

Silence filled the apartment when Anissa came home.  Eugene was either out or asleep. She didn’t usually sleep right after dinner, but Anissa also didn’t doubt Eugene’s ability to screw up her sleep schedule more than thought humanly possible.

 

Cautiously, Anissa knocked on Eugene’s bedroom door. When no one answered, she turned the handle to find that it was locked. Okay. Eugene was out doing something.

 

Just when Anissa got comfortable in her own room, Mom called. Anissa sighed. She really didn’t feel like talking to her mother, but if Mom saw the news and thought Anissa was missing or something, there’d be hell to pay.

 

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

 

“Hey, Anissa, can you come over to Gambi’s?” Mom sounded tense and worried, as though something was stuck in her throat. “Your father and I need to talk to you about something urgent.”

 

Anissa glanced down at her nightgown and pajama pants. Dammit. She couldn’t have Uncle Gambi seeing her in her nightclothes.

 

“Can we do this at my apartment?” she asked. “I just got in bed and I really don’t feel like changing.”

 

“I’m sorry, baby, but this really needs to happen at Gambi’s for safety reasons. Can you please come over?”

 

Safety reasons? How serious was this talk going to be? It had better not be them lecturing her about the incident. She had only been defending Grace and herself. And if this was about the craters, they couldn’t blame her for not having control over powers she only recently discovered.

 

Anissa pursed her lips. “Okay. I’m coming.”

 

***

 

When Anissa walked into Uncle Gambi’s shop, Uncle Gambi, Mom, and Dad stood shoulder-to-shoulder with deep frowns on their faces. Feeling surrounded and s creeped out, Anissa cautiously stepped backward.

 

“What’s so important about all of this?” she asked.

 

“We need to show you something,” said Gambi. “Come over to the shoe shelf, please.”

 

Mom and Dad moved out of the way as Anissa approached the shelf and then stood behind her as if shielding her from the outside world. What was in this shelf that was so bad?

 

Gambi took a gold key out of his pocket and turned to Anissa, his eyes boring into hers. “Before I do this, I need you to not freak out, okay?”

 

“Okay?”

 

Taking away one of the shoes,  he pushed the key into a small keyhole and slid the shelf to the side, revealing a staircase leading to an underground room. Anissa’s jaw dropped.

 

“That’s been there the whole time?” she exclaimed. “And behind the shoe shelf too! I never would’ve thought to look there!”

 

“That’s the point,” he said, smiling with a hint of pride. “Now come on in. You want to get to bed soon, right?”

 

The room at the bottom landing was filled with computers and other technology Anissa didn’t even know Gambi had money for. But the computers and technology weren’t what caught her attention. What caught her attention was propped up at the back of the room.

 

Black Lightning’s suit.

 

“Why do you have Black Lightning’s suit?” she asked, turning on the adults. Suddenly something in her brain clicked as she focused in on Dad. “Wait...you’re...you’re…”

 

He nodded, knowing her words before she said them.

 

“You’re Black Lightning!”

 

“Yeah. I am.”

 

“That makes a lot more sense!” she said. “That’s why I have these powers! Shit...you know about the powers.”

 

“We do,” said Mom, not even commenting on Anissa’s language. “Even if your father hadn’t been there, craters in the concrete at a lesbian bar...not that hard to figure out.”

 

“Also, first lesson of being a superhero,” Dad began, shaking his finger at her. “Don’t damage public property!”

 

Oh, God. She should’ve known the lecture would start eventually.

 

“Look, I just found out about these powers! You can’t expect me to be in complete control of them!”

 

“Well, the general rule is if you don’t have control of something, don’t use it!” Dad shouted, raising his voice with each word he spoke.

 

“Well, it wasn’t planned! Some homophobic guys came and attacked my date and I had to defend her! And then the shooter came and anyway, I kicked their ass and saved your ass, so what’s so bad about all of this!”

 

“You didn’t save anything!” Dad stepped closer, towering over her as he yelled. “All you did was get yourself shot and vandalize a parking lot!”

 

“I only got shot because you blasted whoever that was back while they had their hand on the trigger!” Anissa retorted.

 

Mom’s face contorted with fury. “Jeff! I didn’t hear about her getting shot!” She turned to Anissa. “You got shot? Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, I’m bulletproof,” Anissa said casually.

 

“You’re bulletproof? What…?”

 

“We all just need to take a deep breath and calm down,” Gambi interjected.

 

Ignoring Gambi, Mom shot a cold glare in Dad’s direction. “Why the _hell_ didn’t you tell me?”

 

“I was getting to it. I wanted to tell you in person--”

 

“You were _getting to it_?!”

 

Gambi heaved a loud sigh. “Lynn, please calm down--”

 

Mom turned on him so fast Anissa was surprised she didn’t get whiplash. “I’m completely calm!”

 

Gambi buried his face in his hands. Ignoring Mom, Dad continued to lecture Anissa.

 

“Anyway, the point is,” he said, “you can’t use your powers until we say so. Because obviously you’re not ready to handle them and you could almost get yourself killed again-”

 

“What?!” She couldn’t stop using her powers. Finally, she had a way to protect Freeland that didn’t involve marching and shouting meaningless words and he wanted her to stop? Sure, she had made a few mistakes, but she could improve. “I’m not doing that!”

 

Dad clenched his jaw. “You’re not taking this seriously! You didn’t get it! That girl who attacked me? She helped the man who almost killed me last time I was Black Lightning! And since your entire face was showing back there, now she knows about you and your powers! So if you don’t suck it up and stop using your powers, they’ll find you and kill you too!”

 

“Fine. I won’t use my powers.”

 

Dad was right. She didn’t get it. But that was because his logic was impossible for anyone to get.

 

Yes, she could get killed. She had almost gotten killed when the One Hundred kidnapped her and Jen. She had almost gotten killed today. But now she had powers and she wasn’t afraid of the bullets anymore. And what good would it do if she hid to save her life and everyone around her got their lives destroyed because of the One Hundred and the police?                                             

 

She couldn’t say that in front of Mom and Dad, though. After discovering that Anissa had gotten shot, Mom looked like she might kill someone herself and if Anissa openly rebelled, Dad would never stop yelling.

 

“Can I go now?”

 

“I think you should come to my place for the night,” said Dad. “If they decide to attack your apartment, you and Eugene won’t be able to defend yourselves against both of them.”

 

Anissa’s chest tightened. She hadn’t thought about Eugene. At least Anissa had a chance of not getting killed if the shooter at the bar showed up, but Eugene didn’t. And Anissa would never forgive her if Eugene got killed.

 

“Dammit,” she muttered. “We can’t leave her there alone.”

 

“Then bring her with you,” said Gambi.

 

“She’s not at home,” said Anissa, the bravado in her voice gone. “I’ll...call her.”

 

The phone rang three times before going into voicemail. Eugene’s phone was off. Where could she be that she needed her phone turned off?

 

Dad gently placed his hand on Anissa’s shoulder. “I could stay at your place for a bit so you both don’t have to move,” he suggested. “I’ll sleep on the couch.”

 

Anissa sighed. “Okay. We’ll do that.”

 

This was nothing like the comics.                                                                                                     

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I know this is the first chapter without Eugene in it, but it was necessary since I didn't use the canon Anissa Black LIghtning reveal from the show. Also, I love me some PIerce family drama. Lol I hope you liked it!


	20. Doctor's Orders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another hospital chapter, so just a trigger warning if that's not your thing.

Eugene woke up seconds after going under. But it couldn't have been seconds. No surgery took seconds. Unless they had found a way to get an entire harpoon out of her shoulder in seconds. No. It couldn't have been seconds. It couldn't have been.

 

But what if the surgery had gone wrong and that’s why it felt like seconds? What if she had eaten before the surgery and that word they had said before happened to her? Death time was always weird, right?

 

Suddenly a nurse came to the bedside and Eugene's catastrophic thoughts came to a halt. Well, they didn't stop. She just didn't say them. She didn't want to sound like those people in angel movies stupidly asking, "Am I dead?" like a drunk.

 

Although, she might as well have been drunk if this was what drunk felt like. Her stomach churned as though it was about to come up her throat any minute and her throat felt like it had just been through a cheese grater.

 

"No complications," said the nurse. "I'm gonna move you to another room, okay?"

 

Eugene forced a smile, shame gnawing at her stomach. All that worry about dying seemed silly now. Why was she like this?

 

As the nursed moved her to another room, Eugene caught sight of a clock, her heart sinking as she realized that it was almost ten.

 

What was she supposed to do about Anissa? The stabbed shoulder she could explain by saying it was sprained, but the lateness would be harder. The latest Eugene usually got home was nine.

  
  
Time sprawled out even longer as Eugene waited for the doctor to come in. When Dr. Jones finally arrived, he felt like her head might explode with anxiety. What had taken him so long The more minutes she wasted, the less acceptable whatever bullshit excuse she came up with for Anissa would be.

 

She couldn’t tell him this, though. If she did, she’d start yelling and if she started yelling, she’d start crying. And if she started crying, everything else would come out too and she couldn’t let that happen.

  
  
"Hey, Eugene, how are you holding up?"

 

She went to sign to him but then realized her arm was in a brace. Dammit. How was she supposed to do anything if her dominant arm was injured?

  
  
"Um. Well..." Eugene cringed at the sound of her broken, raspy voice. "Sorry. My...my, uh--"

  
  
"Your throat, I know," he said. "That'd be from the tube they put in your throat. That'll probably go away in a few days. Ambrosia should help but don’t use the high dose because you’ll want to use the ambrosia for your wound and if you take too much--"

 

“I’ll burn up,” she croaked.

 

“Yeah.” Dr. Jones cracked a grin. “Those pesky mortal genes. Don’t you wish you were a full god sometimes?”

  
  
Eugene returned his smile, shaking her head. Living forever would be unbearable.

  
  
"Anyway, let's talk about your wound. Your stitches can come out in five days, so once that happens, come back in and we’ll take them out for you.”

 

Her eyelids started drooping as he explained how she would need to take care of her wound. Knowing her luck, she’d probably get an infection later because she didn’t listen to his instructions, but right now, her bed was the only thing on her mind.

 

“You’re...” Eugene cleared her throat before rubbing her eyes. “You’re gonna write this down, right?”

 

Dr. Jones raised an eyebrow. “You got nothing I just said, didn’t you?”

 

She smiled sheepishly. “Sorry,” she signed with her good hand.

 

“It’s okay,” he said, smiling slightly. “We’ll give you a handout with everything you need to do.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Now, let’s see if you can walk.”

 

Eugene groaned as she tried to push herself up with her elbow and utterly failed, falling onto her back in her debate. Getting out of bed every morning was going to be so much fun.

 

“I usually use my injured arm to get up,” she explained.

 

“That’s alright. Just lean on your other one,” said Dr. Jones. She tried to follow his instructions, but the sudden sensation that she was going to roll off the bed pushed her back again. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you fall off.”

 

“Oh, fucking hell, now I’m dizzy,” Eugene groaned when she finally sat up. When would the struggle ever end?

 

Dr. Jones grabbed a cup of water from the bedside table. “Here, this should help.”   

 

“Now, since you obviously can’t use a walker or two poles with your arm in that brace, I got you a quad cane that should give you plenty of support,” he continued. “Can you stand and walk with that?”

 

Eugene gripped to Dr. Jones’ arm for dear life as she stood up. The quad cane was more like an unnecessary foot than anything else.

 

“How’s that feel?” he asked.

 

“It’s fine.”

 

Dr. Jones narrowed his eyes skeptically and pushed his long black hair behind his ear. “Really? Then ease up on my arm and we’ll see how fine you are.”

 

“I’m fine,” she insisted. She had to lie. She had to get home to Anissa tonight. She couldn’t explain all of this otherwise.

 

“Look,” he said, inhaling sharply, “I know your situation and it’s crappy. But I can’t discharge you if you can’t walk.”

 

“Okay,” she signed, lips pursed tightly. “Then I’ll walk.”

 

“Your life would be so much easier if you just told people the truth - oh, get that look off your face. I don’t mean everyone. I meant a few people. Your roommate, your mother…”

 

Eugene scoffed. Those were the two people she couldn’t tell the most. What was she supposed to tell Anissa? That she was the shooter at the bar and she had also almost killed Mr. Pierce? She couldn’t bombard Anissa with all of that.

 

“I can’t.” Her voice cracked slightly. “I can’t. I’d rather walk.”

 

“You’d better hope you can walk.”

  
  



	21. Innocent Little Truthteller

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So...this story was supposed to be no romance and there's no explicit romance, but there are a few jokes here and there in this chapter. So this note is here just so you're not surprised.

Eugene didn’t walk on her own by the end of the night. But she didn’t stay in the hospital either. She refused. If her legs wouldn’t get her out of there, something else would.

 

“Yoojin, your stubbornness is gonna get you killed one day.”

 

Eugene glanced at the wheelchair she had pestered Dr. Jones into giving her and then at Lupé. “Technically I’m walking. The wheels are just my legs for now.”

 

“You reachin’,” said Lupé, rolling their eyes. “I mean, I know why you’re doing this, but wouldn’t it be easier to tell Anissa the truth instead of putting yourself through this?”

 

“It isn’t just for Anissa,” she retorted. “You know how much that hospital bill is?”

 

“Well, the wheelchair made it more expensive.”

 

“The wheelchair made it less than an overnight stay, the surgery, and the ambulance bill. I don’t have that type of money!” Eugene said as Lupé helped her into their white van.

 

“All of which goes to my salary.” Lupé gave Eugene one of their lopsided grins. “And since you love me so much, I think you should rest and stay another night.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.” Now it was Eugene’s turn to roll her eyes. “Tell that to my shitty teacher salary and lack of health insurance because no one covers Amazonian hospitals.”

 

***

 

As Lupé and Eugene approached the apartment, Eugene took off her glasses to get check behind her door. With them on, she knew that someone in there, but they blocked her electric vision. And without a clear image, she could go in thinking the person was Anissa when actually it was a burglar. 

 

A moment’s glance confirmed that it definitely wasn’t Anissa. They were too broad-shouldered to be Anissa. But she doubted they were a burglar either. No burglar would be lying on her couch - at least not a normal one. 

 

“I think...Mr. Pierce is in my apartment,” she told Lupé as she put her glasses back on. 

 

“Why would Mr. Pierce be in your apartment?”

 

“Um…” Eugene inhaled sharply. “Anissa almost got shot, so I guess he’s just keeping an eye on her.”

 

“Anissa almost got shot?!”

 

“Shhh, she’s fine, she’s fine.” Eugene honestly had no idea whether or not Anissa was fine and she definitely wouldn’t be fine if she knew who shot her. But Lupé was being loud and Eugene didn’t need Mr. Pierce waking up at eleven o’ clock at night. “Anyway, I can take it from here.”

 

“Oh, no, honey. I’m helping you for sure,” said Lupé. “How you gonna get the wheelchair over the bump on your door when you only have one arm to move it with?”

 

“I can just float it over the threshold!”

 

Lupé pursed their lips. “Girl, you couldn’t float a feather right now.”

 

They had a point. If the ride home hadn’t been so short, Eugene honestly would’ve slept through it. And as much as she wished her apartment was completely disabled-friendly, there were just some things she couldn’t avoid. 

 

“Fine. But please try to be quiet.”

 

Lupé cautiously opened the door and wheeled Eugene over the threshold. “Um...you should get up and walk,” they whispered.”Wheeling a wheelchair through dark probably isn’t a good idea.”

 

“Can I use your arm?” 

 

“Sure.”

 

All silence ended when Eugene got up from the wheelchair without moving the footrests first and fell flat on her face. Mr. Pierce jerked awake, rolling off of the sofa with a loud THUD. 

 

Eugene shuddered. Just a few hours ago, they had both been lying down like this, except they were in the parking lot instead of the apartment and she was trying to kill him.

 

“Show yourself!” 

 

“So much for being quiet,” Lupé drawled, reaching over to the wall to turn on the light.

 

“Oh, shut up.” Eugene scowled before turning to Mr. Pierce. “Sorry for waking you up. I’m just clumsy.”

 

Mr. Pierce groaned as he got to his feet. “It’s fine. What’s the wheelchair for?” 

 

“Well, I sprained my shoulder and it makes it hard to push my walker or use a cane,” said Eugene, ignoring Lupé’s disdainful look at her blatant lies. “And Lupé was helping me, so that’s why we’re back a bit late.”

 

Mr. Pierce arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, more than a bit late,” he muttered. “That must have been a long…search for a wheelchair.”

 

“Yeah. It was.” Lupé laughed awkwardly while Eugene died slightly inside.

 

“Anyway,” she said, “I should get to bed. Night.”

 

“Night.” 

 

***

 

Eugene buried her face in her pillow as her alarm practically assaulted her ears. The worst part was that her bed wasn’t even comfortable. Her throat still hurt, exhaustion weighed down her legs like bricks, and she felt like she was about to throw up.

 

Suddenly someone knocked on her door. “Eugene? Can I come in?”

 

Eugene groaned softly and forced herself into a sitting position; now she had to get up. Anissa had been through enough in the past twenty-four hours without Eugene being sluggish and difficult in the morning.

 

“Yeah, come in.”

 

“Dad told me to help you since you can’t really walk right now,” said Anissa, offering Eugene an arm. “I brought your wheelchair too.”

 

A stronger wave of nausea hit Eugene as she stood up, making her flop back onto her bed. Anissa narrowed her eyes.

 

“Girl, are you hungover?”

 

Eugene’s head jerked upwards.  “Me? Drunk on a school ni--” She cleared her throat as her voice gave out. “--on a school night? Who do you think I am?”

 

“Liar!” said Anissa, shaking her finger at Eugene. “You probably got drunk and fell over the wrong way and that’s why your shoulder is injured. And now that I think about it, you were probably drunk when you fell on your face, too. You been getting drunk and not telling me?”

 

“I’m not drunk!” Eugene signed with her good hand. Of course,  the one time she told the truth, Anissa thought she was lying.  

 

“No, you’re lying.” Anissa was grinning gleefully now. “‘Cause Dad told me you came back with Lupé late last night, so it all makes sense now. ”

 

Eugene almost vomited right there and then. Romantic relationships were completely out of the question. She couldn’t even handle her one platonic relationship properly. But dating Lupé was actually a good cover-up, so Eugene played along. The more she denied it and acted flustered, the more Anissa would believe she was lying about Lupé and not the actual reason.

 

Eugene shook her head vigorously. “No, no, no, no--”

 

“You are so in denial,” said Anissa, lips pursed into a small smirk.

 

“You think you know the truth,” signed Eugene, eyebrows furrowed intensely. “But you don’t. Lupé was helping me with my shoulder.”

 

“Right. Helping you with your shoulder, huh?”

 

“Yes!”  

 

“I mean, if you did go out with them and get a little tipsy, I wouldn’t judge you,” said Anissa. “You do need to loosen up a bit.”

 

Eugene cleared her throat again and replied verbally this time. “I’m ‘bout to loosen up this vomit all of your clothes if you don’t hurry up and get that paper bag.”

 

***

 

“Are you gonna eat?” Anissa asked.

 

Eugene shook her head, gingerly rubbing her eyes. She was supposed to only drink clear liquids if she felt nauseous, but even if she hadn’t been nauseous, her appetite was gone either way.

 

“Okay.” Anissa paused. “Guess what I found out?”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m bulletproof! Isn’t that great?!”

 

Eugene took her head out of her hands, blinking rapidly. Was she supposed to act surprised? Was she supposed to congratulate Anissa on being bulletproof? What was she supposed to say to this?

 

“Okay...then?”

 

Anissa scoffed lightly. “Okay, you are definitely  _ not  _ going to work today.”

 

“I didn’t plan to. Mom and I - we called, um--” Eugene faltered and put her head in her hands again. God, she was too tired to even sign properly. “Anyway. It doesn’t matter. Why the change of subject?”

 

“No, I meant if you’re too tired to lecture me, you’re definitely too tired to go to school or do anything else,” said Anissa. 

 

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

 

“I ain’t complaining.” Anissa cracked a smile. “Dad already lectured me about getting shot. And he found out about my powers, so  _ that  _ didn’t help.”

 

Eugene grimaced and cupped her face with her hand. “Yikes.”

 

“Yeah. And kinda hypocritical. I wouldn’t have gotten shot if he hadn’t blasted the attacker back with electricity while they had their hand on the trigger and then he has the nerve to yell at  _ me  _ for being reckless?”

 

Eugene stared at Anissa with wide eyes. If she kept talking like that, she’d get found out within the week and get Lynn and Jen killed. Maybe Mr. Pierce was a hypocrite, but he was right about one thing: Anissa was nowhere near ready for this.

 

Anissa’s eyes widened too as she realized what she had revealed. “Shit. Forget I said that.”

 

“It’s okay,” signed Eugene, keeping her face neutral. “I’m not surprised. But you need to lie better. You’re going to be a terrible superhero if you don’t.”

 

“I know,” said Anissa, grimacing. “At least I made the mistake with you. You’re trustworthy. And it’s not good for friends to have secrets anyway.”

 

“Right.”

 


	22. Unwelcome Visitors

Eugene sighed heavily as she flipped through channels on the television with her remote. There was only so much she could do besides sleep all day. She couldn’t grade assignments because her dominant hand was out of commision. And every typing task had lost its appeal because typing with one hand was torture beyond what Tobias could do.

 

“Nothing good is on,” she muttered.  

 

Suddenly a news story about Black Lightning came on and Eugene perked up. That wasn’t good, but it was necessary. Whatever Mr. Pierce had done, Tobias was going to beat her for it and she at least needed to know what it was.

 

“Witnesses say Black Lightning broke into a drug house on 37th street. Victims were found unconscious and severely burnt…”

 

Her already nauseous stomach tied into knots. That was another missed opportunity in Tobias’ eyes. Yes, she was still injured and technically not required to work a shift tonight, but Tobias was Tobias. She had to be proactive about this. Otherwise, she would get Mom killed within the month.

 

***

 

Eugene put on her helmet before calling Gambi. She couldn’t have him recognizing her voice if she was going to do this. Otherwise, this thing would turn into a complete mess.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“I want you to get Black Lightning under control,” she said. “He’s going to get himself in trouble.”

 

“Well, you’re talking to the wrong person,” said Gambi, his voice hard and cold, “because I have no idea who Black Lightning is or how to contact him.”

 

“I never asked you who Black Lightning is and also, you’re lying because you work with him.”

 

“You’re delusional,” he told her. “And you’re not even under control yourself. Both you and Tobias are supposed to be in hiding.”

 

“We’ll stay under control if you stay under control. The only reason Tobias is on the warpath is that Black Lightning isn’t dead.”

 

“Well, apparently you’re not as good of a murderer as you thought,” said Gambi. “It’s not our fault that Tobias is on your case because you didn’t your job properly the first time. Or the second time apparently.”

 

Eugene puffed out her cheeks in frustration. “How about I do my job properly when they do their job properly? ‘Cause Mr. Pierce shouting your name from the rooftops while in the suit and Anissa showing her entire face for all of Freeland to see doesn’t seem like a job well done.”

 

Gambi spluttered over the phone. “Listen, bitch, you stay the hell away from them or I’ll find everyone you care about and--”

 

Eugene inhaled sharply, more grateful than ever that she was using her voice modifier. If Gambi ever tried that, he was in for a big surprise. “And what? You’ll kill them? That’s real original.”

 

“I will if that’s what it takes to stop you.”

 

“If I wanted to hurt them, I would’ve told Tobias who they are hours ago and they would be dead already,” she said, losing the bravado in her voice. “That’s why I’m calling. Because I don’t want them to get hurt.”

 

Gambi scoffed. “That’s funny. Not twenty-four hours ago, you tried to kill them. That’s real funny. Did you hit your head when Anissa smacked you into next month?”

 

“Come on, we all know Tobias would eat Anissa for breakfast if he found out and--”

 

“Oh, so this is about Anissa, not Jefferson. Everything’s coming together now.” Gambi laughed bitterly. “You know, if you really cared about Anissa, you wouldn’t have tried to kill her father twice, but okay. I understand.” 

 

“I didn’t know it was him when I--” That was a lie. She had known the second time. But she tried not to think about the second time.

 

“I’m not interested in your ulterior motives,” said Gambi. “Bye.”

 

“Gambi--” she protested. But he had already hung up.

 

***

 

“You’re not supposed to be here. You have warrants all over the city,” Gambi growled as Tobias entered the shop.

 

Tobias chuckled darkly at Gambi’s defiance. Despite being the one in the room without powers, the man acted like he was Moses when he was really the Pharaoh about to get all his soldiers drowned by the Red Sea. 

 

“You won’t turn me in,” he replied. “Unless you want me to snap that wrinkly ass neck of yours.”

 

“And kill the only suit-maker available to you?” said Gambi, unfazed. “Don’t think you wanna do that.”

 

“Is that an offer to make me one?” 

 

“Well, as of now the only thing I’m gonna measure for you is a coffin,” Gambi said coolly. “But killing me might just delay future offers.”

 

Tobias cracked his knuckles. Every inch of him itched to snap Gambi’s neck just like he said he would, but he needed to play his cards right. Unfortunately, Gambi had connections and killing him would piss of Lady Eve, the ASA, and a whole bunch more of dangerous people. So now all Tobias could do was bluff.

 

And the worst part was Gambi  _ knew  _ he was bluffing.

 

“Well, lucky for both of us, I don’t need a new suit as of now,” he said. “I need Black Lightning’s suit.”

 

“I don’t have it,” said Gambi. 

 

Now Gambi was the one bluffing. “We both know that’s a lie,” Tobias growled.

 

“It’s not,” said Gambi. “It’s his suit, not mine. It’s with him.”

 

“Then tell me where it is.”

 

Gambi stared into Tobias’ eyes with a piercing glare. “Do I look like I have a tracker on Black Lightning at all times?”

 

“Yes. You do,” said Tobias, now cracking his neck as he subconsciously did his pre-ass-kicking routine. “Now tell me where he is.”

 

“The only location I’m gonna tell you about is the exit,” Gambi retorted, snatching his gun from a nearby table. Sy reacted by taking out her own gun. 

 

“Your clap-backs are becoming a little redundant, Gambi,” said Tobias. “Just tell me where Black Lightning is and I’ll head right to the exit.”

 

“We had a deal!” Gambi’s voice had lost all its calm now. “You stay away from Black Lightning and I won’t cause any trouble!”

 

“The only reason I followed that damn deal was that there wasn’t much of a motive to go after a dead body. But now he’s not so much of a dead body and I have a motive.”

 

Gambi ran his fingers through his hair with the hand that wasn’t holding his gun. “That deal was for you really,” he said. “When Black Lightning is through with you, you’ll wish he was a dead body.”

 

Tobias silently gestured to Sy that it was time to leave. He had really had enough of Gambi’s bluffing for one night and his urges to kill the smartass tailor were beginning to overwhelm him.

 

“I think it’s time for me to leave,” he said, giving Gambi one last stare-down before walking toward the exit. “Let me know when you find Black Lightning.”

 

“Go out and find Black Lightning by your own damn self,” Gambi called after him.


	23. Undeserving

“Sorry that we’ve kinda turned your life upside down,” Mr. Pierce told Eugene as he helped her up Gambi’s stairs. “I just don’t feel comfortable leaving Jen and Lynn alone in the house.”

 

The same night Eugene had called Gambi, Mr. Pierce decided to move her and Anissa to the apartment above Gambi’s store so he could look after Jen. She understood why. He was afraid that Anissa’s shooter would come back and if Eugene did hypothetically attack Jen and Lynn, they wouldn’t stand a chance.

 

“It’s okay,” she said, taking her water bottle of the bag of overnight clothes she had packed. “Everyone’s life is a little upside down in this city.”

 

“You’re telling me.” He paused. “Well, uh...hopefully, you won’t have to stay here long. This’ll all be over once Anissa’s shooter is caught.”

 

Eugene nearly spat out her drink.

 

“You okay?” he asked.

 

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat. “Just went down the wrong hole.”

 

***

 

Sirens rang in Eugene's ears and she was back in an ambulance again. What had happened? It had to be Tobias. He had found out about Black Lightning going to the drug house and then beat her for missing her chance. And that's why she was in the ambulance. 

 

She couldn't afford another ambulance ride like this. Didn't Tobias know she didn't have money lying around? And she couldn't do his dirty work if she was in the hospital. Although, at this point, maybe he thought she was too incompetent to do his dirty work where she was in the hospital or not.

 

But the money was the least of her worries. The paramedic kept asking her questions that she couldn't answer because her throat was too sore. If she had to have another surgery, the tube they put in her throat would kill her voice for good and she'd have to use only sign language for the rest of her life. And she'd have to wake a little while to do that too because her arm was still out of commision. 

 

She had eaten too and she couldn't tell them that either. Remembering that she had eaten was somehow worse than not knowing like before. She didn't know what happened when you ate before a surgery, but she was about to find out.

 

But she couldn't panic now. There was too much to panic about that if she started panicking, she would never stop. And she had to stop at some point. At least she knew the drill from last time. And this time, the ambulance itself wasn't as overwhelming. She could get through this. She had to get through this. Tobias could have anything planned for after he dealt with her.

 

***

 

Eugene woke up suffocating.

 

It was some sort of box - too small for her already stiff joints, sealed shut, and according to her electric vision, surrounded by no living thing for miles. Except for when she looked up. There were people everywhere above her, but no one to her side. The box was wooden too, except the bottom. That part was oddly comfortable.

 

She was in a coffin. Shit. 

 

Something had probably gone wrong with the surgery and they thought she was dead, but she really wasn't dead. And now she was about to suffocate from being buried alive. Shit. 

 

"Help," she rasped, banging on the coffin with her free hand and kicking too. There were people up there. Someone could help her. "Help!"

 

But it was useless. No one heard her - she barely heard herself because her voice was so dead. All she could do was scream as loud as she could. If she didn't, she would soon be dead too. 

 

"He-HELP!"

 

"No."

  
  
Eugene froze. "Anissa? Anissa, can you help--?"

  
  
The anger in Anissa's voice cut into Eugene like knives. "I'm not helping you with anything! You tried to murder my father and then you lied about it? This is what you deserve!"

  
  
"I didn't mean--please--" Her voice cracked for one last time. "Help me."

  
  
"NO!"

  
  
***

  
  
"No."

  
  
"Come on, time to get back to work."

  
  
"No," Eugene repeated, panting as she tried to recover the oxygen that she had never really lost because the coffin had just been a dream. Thank God, it had all just been a dream. 

  
  
"Yes," said Anissa. 

  
  
Eugene whimpered at the sound of Anissa's voice but forced herself up from her bed anyway. She had to get up. She couldn't be like this all the time. "I'm sorry."

  
  
"For what?"

  
  
"You always have to get me up in the morning and I'm such a mess...I'm sorry," she said, covering her mouth before she apologized for her more major fuck-ups too.

  
  
"You're crying about that?" Anissa asked incredulously.

  
  
"Oh, no...um, I just had a weird dream." Eugene sniffed. "But...it's just a dream, so everything's fine."

  
  
"Uh huh. Come here." Anissa sat on the edge of the bed and pulled Eugene into a hug that she definitely didn't deserve. "Oh, come on, the objective of a hug isn't you to cry more. How bad was this dream?"

  
  
"No, it's just that you squeezed my bad shoulder and it hurts," said Eugene, only partly lying.

  
  
"Oh, so it's my fault now?"

  
  
"Yup."


	24. AP Stands for Asshole and Piranhas

Eugene had AP Lang for her first two classes. Thankfully, today she had only assigned an in-class essay and because no one talked much during those, she could spend the first two periods mentally preparing herself for when she actually had to give lessons. She had to. Students were already the most stressed, volatile creatures to walk planet Earth. If she seemed stressed and depressed, they’d be even worse and it would just be a vicious cycle of everyone making everyone more miserable.

 

“Oh, she’s back,” one of her students, Mike muttered to his friend, Jason. 

 

“I know, right? I enjoyed the day off too!” said Eugene, trying and failing to sound enthusiastic since her voice still partly resembled the voice of a croaking bullfrog. “But it’s time to get back to work now.”

 

The rest of her class stared back at her with dead looks in their eyes. Eugene sighed.

 

“Oh, come on, today’s only an in-class essay. I’m not even asking you to take notes or get participation points!”

 

“Well, I was sorta hoping you wouldn’t be here today because I am not ready for this essay at all,” Mike admitted. 

 

“Yeah, can you injured more often?” said another student, Anna.

 

“You know I’d still make the sub have you do it if I was absent.” 

 

Jason’s eyes widened in horror. “No, no, no, no, don’t do that--”

 

Oh, they were such children. She didn’t even help them with essays when she was there. What difference would it make? 

 

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Eugene said, pouting mockingly. “I’ll injure myself and then make you do it  _ all by yourself  _ because you’re supposed to be able to do it by yourself!”

 

Everyone snickered.

 

“Anyway,” she continued, “what should I injure next?”

 

“Your hand!”

 

“Break your legs!” 

 

Jason’s jaw dropped incredulously. “Anna! That’s too far!”

 

Eugene grimaced. “Yeah, I’ll pass. Kinda need those. And anyway,” she added, clasping her hands together as the second bell rang, “you’re wasting your time. Time for that class essay!”

 

“No!” they chorused.

 

“Yes!” Eugene said cheerfully, accidentally signing with her bad arm as she spoke and doubling over her desk in pain. “Ow. Oh, shut up,” she added as everyone started laughing. “You won’t be laughing at that grade if you don’t start writing now!”

 

***

 

Jen and Keisha were in Eugene’s next AP class and the last class’ antics were quickly overshadowed when Keisha walked in with a huge bucket. From what Eugene could see with her electric vision, two creatures were floating inside. No, they had to be swimming. Floating bucket creatures weren’t a thing - not that she knew of anyway. 

 

“What’s in there?” Eugene asked. 

 

“Okay, so don’t get mad,” Keisha began. Eugene inhaled sharply. “But Jen and I were talking yesterday while the sub was here. And my family has some fish that we need to get rid of and Jen said she’d take them, so...I brought in the fish.”

 

“Okay…” Eugene trailed off. Technically there were no rules against bringing fish to school. Teachers had class pets all the time and she hadn’t put any rules in her policy sheet against them. “You’ll just be sitting and doing an essay, so no one would knock it over. I guess it’s fine…”

 

“Yeah, the only thing is you need to do is blow into the bucket with this straw every so the water keeps moving. But Jen and I can do that and it shouldn’t be too disruptive.” Keisha reached down to open the lid and Eugene screamed. 

 

“ARE THOSE PIRANHAS?!”

The whole class howled with laughter as Eugene went into a coughing fit and turned on Jen. 

 

“You...you...f--” she spluttered, struggling to regain her voice. A whole day of resting her throat had been reversed just by the utterance of three words. “Your dad let you do that?!” she signed, face contorted with fury.

 

Jen backed away slightly. “I’m sorry...I don’t understand when you sign that fast.”

 

“You don’t understand? Okay. I’ll help you understand. D-E-T-E-N-T-I-O-N…” Eugene purposely fingerspelled slowly. “...for two weeks!”

 

***

 

Jen trudged into her third-period class with her bucket of piranhas, head hung and feet dragging. Anissa tilted her head inquiringly at her sister’s composure.

 

“What’s up, Jen?”

 

Jen looked up, forcing a tight-lipped smile. “Well, I found an extracurricular to replace track for two weeks.”

 

“That’s good!” said Anissa. “At least Mom and Dad’ll stop bugging you.”

 

“Also...Eugene’s gonna kill me.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 


	25. Hospital Woes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Obvs by the title, you can tell that there's hospital stuff in here, so trigger warning for that. 
> 
> Also, finally another chapter with Khalil, the guy this story was originally supposed to be about! *insert Jonathan Van Ness gif here* Can you believe?!

“Hey, Emart, I didn’t expect to see you here,” said Khalil as Eugene entered his hospital room.

 

”Well, Jennifer got grounded and was complaining about you not having any visitors if she couldn’t see you,” said Eugene. “So...I came to visit you instead.”

 

Khalil’s face darkened. “She trippin’. Did she get grounded for quitting track?” 

 

“Wait, she quit track?” Eugene asked. Jennifer loved running track, especially since it was common ground between her and Khalil...oh. That was why she quit track.

 

“Yeah, she quit track,” he grumbled. “Like, I said, she trippin’! As soon as I get injured, she quits track. Doesn’t she know I’d kill to be able to run again?”

 

Eugene’s heart skipped a beat. “No, no, don’t do that.”

 

Khalil tilted his head and squinted at her. “It was a hyperbole, Emart...I wouldn’t literally kill people.”

 

“Right, right, sorry.” Eugene forced a laugh. He thought that now, but when Tobias entered the picture, a lot of things stopped being hyperboles. “Glad to see you remembered what a hyperbole is.”

 

“Well, you’re a good teacher,” he said. “Anyway, she trippin’. Acting like I can’t be by myself for one second. First, she quits track and now she sends you in place of her.”

 

“Oh, Jen ain’t sending me anywhere,” Eugene reassured him. “I’m actually the one who got her grounded, so I thought I’d do her and you a favor.”

 

“How’d she get grounded?”

 

Khalil shook with laughter when Eugene told him the story of the piranhas. While Eugene didn’t think the story was funny at all, she was glad to see him smiling again after what he’d been through. 

 

“You gave her two weeks of detention?” he asked incredulously. “You never give anyone detention!”

 

“Well, I gave  _ her _ detention!” said Eugene, sucking her teeth. “You bring man-eating fish into my classroom, you get detention!”

 

***

 

Eugene shook from head to toe as she entered Tobias’ place. It was the first time talking to him since he stabbed her, and she wanted the floor to just open up and swallow her whole right there and then.

 

“Eugene,” Tobias said coldly, “you’re back to work I see?”

 

“Yes.” She forced herself to look him in the eye. “Um...we sold out tonight, so that’s good. No troublesome customers.”

 

“I’m glad to hear that,” said Tobias. “Good customers means more money.”

 

“Yeah. Um, speaking of money, I have a request,” said Eugene, using all her willpower to look him in the eye as her stomach curled into knots. “I’m struggling with my hospital bills and I’m asking for your help.”

 

Tobias’ face suddenly contorted with fury. “No!” he spat. “You pay for your damn medical bills!”

 

Eugene recoiled. She wasn’t the one who stabbed herself with the harpoon; he had and therefore he was responsible. But the words stuck in her throat. He’d kill her if she said that and then she wouldn’t be able to pay anything.  

 

“I wouldn’t come to you unless I thought it was absolutely necessary--”

 

Tobias’ glared daggers at her. “This wouldn’t be necessary if you did what I said and killed Black Lightning.”

 

“I can’t kill Black Lightning if I’m homeless.” Her voice was calm, but every part of her ached from panic. “And that’s what’s gonna happen if you don’t pay them because it’s either rent or medical bills.”

 

  
“I already paid for Khalil’s medical bills and rent and now this…” Tobias muttered under his breath. 

 

No. No. She must have heard that wrong. Now Tobias was dragging Khalil into this mess too? It was a perfect setup. Tobias would fix Khalil’s legs and Khalil would be indebted to him and probably be forced to kill Black Lightning. Just like Eugene. Both manipulated. Both forced to hurt their friends. Both caught up in a life-threatening mess because of a stupid accident. 

 

But no. It couldn’t be that. She refused. She must have heard wrong. “You what?”

 

“Nothing!” he snapped, confirming that it wasn’t nothing and that she definitely hadn’t heard wrong. “And I’m not paying your medical bills!”

 

“Tobias, please--” Her medical bills were the last thing on her mind now, but Khalil was another battle for another day.

 

“You want to get stabbed in the other shoulder?” Tobias abruptly stood up from his desk and Eugene clenched her jaw, ready for a beating. “‘Cause then your medical bills would be double and I sure as hell ain’t paying them then.”

 

“Tobias, that’s enough,” said another voice. 

 

Eugene had been so busy worrying about her bills she hadn’t even realized there was another person in the room. Her savior had come in the form of an elegant woman with a long curtain of black hair. 

 

“Tori, you haven’t dealt with her like I have,” said Tobias. “Complying will only fuel her excuses.”

 

“I think you should pay her medical bills,” said Tori. “Maybe a little bit at a time? That way it’s continuous incentive”

 

Tobias stroked his beard. “Actually, that’s a good idea.”

 

“Yeah.” Tori turned to Eugene, smiling sweetly. “We’ll pay it a bit at a time. Would you like that?”

 

Eugene’s first instinct was to say thank you for temporarily getting her out of this mess, but something was up with Tori. No one got Tobias to soften as she had. No one. Either she was on his level or worse. And if Tobias never did anything nice without ulterior motives, Tori definitely wouldn’t.

 

“Ye-yes.”

 

****

 

Eugene visited Khalil the next day immediately after school. Jen had warned her not to since he had just found out that his spine had been completely severed. But Eugene had to. The severed spine was just the beginning of what would happen if she didn’t warn him. Hell, she doubted his spine even was severed. Tobias had probably just bribed the doctor. 

 

“Khalil, I need to talking to you about something.”

 

“Emart, I don’t feel like talking today.”

 

“I won’t be long, “ she promised. “I heard that someone donated money to you anonymously. I just need you to be careful.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean, it’s sketchy when people donate large amounts money anonymously,” said Eugene. “If anyone comes to you and asks you for something because they claim they gave you the money, politely refuse, okay?”

 

Khalil furrowed his eyebrows. "Okay?"

 

"Also, tell your mom not to accept any more donations," she added. At this, Khalil's eyebrows shot farther up his forehead.

 

"What? No! We need those!"

 

"I meant anonymous donations," Eugene said hastily. "If they really cared about you and your mom, they would donate with their name on it."

 

"Maybe they're in a situation where they can't donate anonymously," Khalil argued.

 

"Well, then you shouldn't be involved with them! I just don't want you to get taken advantage of."

 

"You don't understand! My mom would literally go bankrupt without those donations!"

 

Eugene scoffed. She did understand. She had been in his position, but Khalil didn’t deserve to be in her position because he had gotten involved with Tobias.

 

"I do understand. Being disabled is expensive.  I know that. I really do. But you can't take those donations.”

 

"At least you can walk," said Khalil. "I'm gonna be stuck in a wheelchair forever. Running track was my only change. My mom can't pay for college and I don't have the grades to get even close to a full ride. And even if I do manage to get out of high school and into college, where am I gonna work? No one's gonna hire the guy in the wheelchair."

 

"You could apply for disability money." Realistically, disability money took years to apply for, but Eugene just needed to convince him not to take the donations.

 

"That takes years to get if you do get it.”

 

"It does, but I just have a really bad feeling about this.”

 

"Thanks, Han Solo, but things got bad a while back."

  
  
  
  



	26. Definitely Didn't Think This Through

The next day, Tobias called her. Eugene knew she was screwed when Tobias called her.

 

"Yes?" she asked, bracing herself for bad news. 

 

"So...I visited Khalil yesterday," he said slowly. Eugene’s jaw clenched. "'Cause I was thinking about how his spine got severed and how absolutely tragic that was. And I told him that I had a solution to his broken spine that could get him walking again. 'Cause you know me. I like to help people. And you know what he said?"

 

Her mouth went dry. "No."

 

"He said  _ no. _ " Tobias' voice went up an octave or two. "I told him I could help him walk again and he said  _ no. _ "

 

Fuck. She thought she had been helping Khalil when really she had screwed them both over. Fuck. How was she supposed to fix this?

 

"And then I got myself thinking," Tobias continued. "Why on earth would Khalil Payne, a track star, refuse a treatment that could help him walk again? Who could have  _ possibly  _ convinced him that that was a bad idea?"

 

"I dunno."

 

"You don't?" he said, his voice gradually becoming louder as he talked. "Well, first of all, I didn't ask you to speak. And second of all, I definitely didn't ask you to speak lies! So shut your mouth and quit going behind my back unless you want me to go shoot Khalil and make sure it doesn't just hit his spine this time!"

 

"O-okay."

 

***

 

Thankfully, Khalil was fine when Eugene visited him again the next day. She knew he probably didn't want to see her after their argument the day before, but she had to make sure Tobias hadn't gone and shot him. Yes, if he had, it would probably be on the news, but there was always a small part of her that believed that Tobias could have covered it up or done something crazy like that.

 

"How are you?" she asked.

 

Khalil ignored her.

 

"Look." Eugene sighed. "I'm sorry about yesterday, but I really was just looking out for you."

 

"Well, you can stop looking out for me, because you messed everything up."

 

"What happened? Is your mom okay?" Eugene cursed herself for not thinking of Khalil's mom. Tobias might not have gone after Khalil, but he could still go after family members and loved ones. If he found out about Khalil and Jen, he could go after her too. Brilliant. That was another way Eugene had put the Pierces in danger.

 

"She won't be after all the work she's gonna have to put in."

 

"What do you mean by that?"

 

"Just go away!"

 

Judging by Khalil’s comment, Tobias might’ve taken away the donations, but clearly, Khalil didn’t want to talk about that. "Okay."

 

***

 

"You know, I've never seen you watch the news so much in one week," Anissa mused Sunday morning as the small TV in Gambi's apartment played in the background.  "I thought you didn't like it."

 

Eugene looked up from buttoning the white shirt she wore for church. "Well, things are getting worse and I just want to be able to keep up. I'll take the depressing stuff in exchange for knowing if everyone's safe."

 

"Yeah, I get you."

 

***

 

"Let's open up with prayer," said the pastor.

 

Instead of just staring at a spot on the carpet and refusing to let God into her mind, Eugene prayed. She could talk to God this time, she reasoned, because it was her, a grave sinner, asking for help in her life. It was her asking for help in Khalil's life. Whatever she did to help would just ruin his life further. The only person who could help him at this point was God.

 

What she didn't realize was that by just being in church, everyone was already in Tobias' mess. 

 

As they were praying, some suddenly screamed, "HELP!" before a gunshot when off. A couple of members in the pews jumped out of their seats to go help. More gunshots rang through the air and moments later, someone entered the room with a gun. 

 

“Give me your money!” he yelled. “Give me your money!”

 

The room abruptly went dark and the electricity from the lights surrounded the members to form a force field. Despite the protection, the shooter retaliated anyway and everyone else instinctively dove for cover. Mom pulled Eugene closer to her, shouting something Eugene couldn't hear over the gunshots.

 

"Who's doing what?" Eugene asked. Mom pointed at the force field and then at Eugene, eyebrows raised.

 

Eugene shook her head. “Black Lightning,” she signed.  

 

Suddenly two more people came in. One moment too many passed as nothing was done to protect them. Did Mr. Pierce not see them? Either way, Eugene had to do something before they got shot too.

 

Putting her hand behind her back, she directed a stream of electricity away from at the forcefield and hit him square in the chest. A chilling silence fell over the room as the gunshots stopped. A few more tense moments passed before Anissa yelled, "He's down!" The congregation collectively sighed in relief before breaking into conversation.

 

"Did you see who that was?"

 

"Probably Black Lightning--"

 

"Someone should call the police--"

 

"Where's Dad?" Jennifer asked, her eyes darting around the room in search for Mr. Pierce. The poor thing still didn't know her father had powers. She probably thought he was dead or worse.

 

Eugene let the force field scatter before clumsily sliding out from underneath the bench. "Jen, I'm sure he's fine - oh, there he is."

 

Mr. Pierce stood with the people who had just entered the room, staring intensely at the now turned on lights. A sudden nasty feeling in Eugene's stomach overwhelmed her relief from earlier. He knew it wasn't him who knocked out the shooter and by elimination, it had to be her. Not specifically her, but he could narrow it down to the people in the room that day.

 

Fuck.

 

She definitely hadn't thought this through.


	27. Slipping

"Great," said Anissa, flopping onto Gambi's sofa with her arms crossed, "now Dad's not gonna let me go anywhere."

 

"As he should!" said Gambi. "The One Hundred is getting bolder and bolder and until they stop, no one is safe unless we look out for each other. They attacked a church for money when they know churches are poorer than anywhere else. They have no respect!"

 

"Well, Dad made sure they didn't get their money," said Anissa, "so that should teach them a lesson."

 

Gambi eyes widened. "Anissa, be careful of what you say around--"

 

Eugene waved her hand dismissively. "It's fine. I already know it's him. She's a terrible liar."

 

"Yeah, evidently." Gambi sighed as he turned back to Anissa. "You know, you aren't exactly making things easier for your father. You want to be a superhero and go out and about? Keep your mouth shut."

 

Anissa huffed as he left the room.

 

***

 

"Eugene, I don't think you should go out."

 

"Anissa, I'll be fine." Eugene had to check in with Tobias and Anissa didn’t want her to leave. But unknown to Anissa, the only way she wouldn't be fine was being late for Tobias.

 

"Can I at least go with you?” Anissa asked.

 

"Um...no, I don't think that's a good idea." Eugene suppressed a grimace. "Mr. Pierce would be so worried he'd lay an egg."

 

Anissa snickered. "Oh, come on. At least I can defend myself. You can't."

 

"But I won't need to, 'cause no one's gonna come after me," Eugene argued. "I'm not the one who got shot."

 

"You sure seem to get injured a lot, though."

 

"That's just my clumsiness, You got a member of the One Hundred on your back." Guilt gnawed at Eugene’s stomach. That member was her.  "I'll be fine. It's just a quick errand that I have to run."

 

***

 

Eugene was not, in fact, fine.

 

"Why didn't you kill him?!" Tobias roared when she arrived at his mansion. "He was right there in the church! You had him right under your nose and you didn't kill him!"

 

"I couldn't reveal myself!" she tried.

 

"Well, neither could he! And this time, he didn't have that clown suit on, so what's your excuse now?!"

 

"I couldn't see who it was in the chaos! I tried! I really did!"

 

"That's BULLSHIT!" He smacked her so hard she was lifted off her feet and flew backward into a vase. Eugene glanced at the shards of glass around her, tears burning at the back of her eyes. 

 

"You're paying for that vase," Tobias hissed through a clenched jaw. "And you better get your act together because that protection money the church won't give was gonna go to your hospital bills and I won't pay them with money I don't have."

 

"Okay."

 

"And look me in the eye when I'm talking to you!"

 

Eugene grimaced as she struggled to move her neck. He had given her fucking whiplash. As if she didn't have enough problems already.

 

"O-okay." The tears from earlier spilled over as she tried to contain her groans of pain.

 

"You slippin', Eugene," said Tobias, shaking his finger at her. "And one day you're gonna trip over the corpses of your loved ones if you're not careful."

 

She swallowed the lump in her throat and gingerly wiped her tears away. She was fucking sick of this. "O-okay."

 

***

 

The ambrosia took the pain away, but nothing took away the everlasting brick of dread in her stomach.  Her excuses were becoming thinner and thinner and Tobias' patience was disappearing quicker and quicker. He had already snapped, but one day he was going to snap and it would cost somebody their life.

 

When she entered Gambi's apartment, Anissa immediately noticed her labored breathing and got up to help her.

 

"You okay?"

 

"Yeah, it was just a long walk," said Eugene. "I'm not used to these stairs."

 

"Yeah, I love Uncle Gambi, but this place is not disabled-friendly at all," said Anissa. "They need to catch that person who shot me and throw them in jail or something, so we can go back home and Dad can get off my back."

 

"Yeah, they really do.” Eugene glanced down at her feet as her eyes suddenly became wet again. Luckily, Anissa didn't mind not having eye contact while she was talking, unlike Tobias. That Eugene could just pass off as needing to see where she was going so she didn't trip over anything.

 

"I just wish everything would go back to normal.” Anissa heaved a sigh as they sat on the couch together.

 

"Well, you have superpowers," said Eugene. "Nothing's going to be normal now."

 

"That's true."

  
  



	28. Mothers Before Others

Eugene hadn't meant to go through Anissa's stuff. She had only been looking for her copy of  _ Night _ when she opened the box and the first thing she saw was Tobias' face.

 

"Anissa, what the fuck is this?!"

 

"Woah, Woah, calm down, what is it?" said Anissa, strolling out of the bathroom.

 

Eugene snatched the newspaper out of the box and shook it in Anissa's face. "You're researching corrupt politicians now?! What is wrong with you?!"

 

"You need to calm down," Anissa said sternly. "I just found some of grandpa's old articles and that happened to be in there. Besides, I looked into that guy some more and no one's seen him in years."

 

Eugene heaved a sigh and pinched her nose as she threw down the newspaper. It was just a newspaper. It was just a newspaper. Even though Anissa was wrong about Tobias not being around in years, he wasn't close enough to do anything. At least not for now.

 

"Still...that is some sketchy stuff," Eugene said, voice trembling.

 

"Yeah, I know he's bad," said Anissa. "Funding experiments on kids. It's terrible. I found some research in there too."

 

Eugene inhaled sharply. That sounded like something related to the ASA. And the last thing Anissa needed to do was be found with research and exposing articles on the ASA. There was a reason those articles had been kept in a box for years. They'd kill her for knowing that information. Or worse.

 

"Couldn't you have just asked your parents about this stuff?" Eugene asked. "I mean, researching experiments on kids. That's--"

 

"Sketchy," said Anissa, putting her hands on her hips. "You've told me. And no. I can't. All Dad does is a treat me like a little kid, and apparently, you are too."

 

"No, I'm not, I'm just looking out for you," Eugene argued. "You could get killed for knowing this kind of stuff--"

 

"Yeah, well, people can kill you a lot easier than they can kill me because I'm the one who's bulletproof. So maybe you should stop going through my stuff and shut up."

 

"Just because you're bulletproof doesn't mean you're invincible!" said Eugene, her heartbeat quickening again. "You need to stop holding it over people's heads like it's some get out of jail free card!"

 

"You weren't worried about that before I found out I was bulletproof!"

 

"You got shot!"

 

"Oh my Go--" Anissa stared up at the ceiling incredulously. "Do you not understand what the meaning of bulletproof is, Eugene?!"

 

"Sometimes bulletproof! If you hadn't breathed at the right time, you'd be in a coffin right now full of holes!"

 

"I'm just wondering what changed," said Anissa. "'Cause when Jen and I got kidnapped and taken to the Seahorse Motel, you weren't as worked up as this. You even supported me using my powers."

 

"Well, personally I never thought it was that good of an idea, but--"

 

"So you were leading me on then?

 

Eugene's stomach twisted into knots. "What? No!"

 

Anissa folded her arms together. "Well, that's what it sounds like because you definitely weren't being honest with me."

 

"Well, if I said that it wasn't a good idea, would you have listened to me?" Eugene asked quietly.

 

"No." Anissa's face set into a hard frown. "I don't give a damn about your opinion, especially now that I know it's fake as fuck."

 

Eugene went silent. Moments later, Gambi awkwardly popped his head in the door.

 

"Uh...you guys ready for family dinner?"

 

***

 

Eugene sat in the seat farthest from Anissa as they drove to the Pierces' house. Hopefully, Anissa had brushed up her acting skills so that dinner wasn't too awkward, but knowing Anissa, that wouldn't be the case.

 

The moment they walked in the house, Mom glanced between her and Anissa and frowned.

 

"What’s happening with you and Anissa?"

 

Eugene pursed her lips, cursing her wishful thinking. Even if Anissa somehow did manage to become a better liar, nothing would save them from Mom's probing.

 

"Oh, it’s nothing."

 

"Fake," Anissa signed, baring her teeth.

 

"She can understand ASL." Eugene rolled her eyes. "If you're trying to be secretive, you're failing."

 

"I'm not trying to be secretive. I'm not fake like you."

 

Mom's eyebrows shot her forehead while her mouth hung open slightly. "Huh?"

 

Eugene forced a tight-lipped smile. "After dinner, please."

 

***

 

"So!" Ms. Stewart began with forced enthusiasm as everyone sat at the dinner table. "How is everyone doing?"

 

"Well," said Jennifer, smiling sweetly at Eugene, "being grounded is  _ great _ ."

 

Fuck. Eugene had forgotten about that amongst all the chaos. First Anissa and now Jenn. Was everyone at this table angry at her in some way shape or form?

 

"Jennifer," Ms. Stewart said scoldingly before turning to Eugene. "Sorry about her."

 

"It's fine, Ms. Stewart," said Eugene, waving her hand dismissively. "No one enjoys being grounded. That's the whole point. Um, what did you end up doing with those fish anyway?"

 

"Well, we couldn't figure out what to do with them, " said Ms. Stewart, "so we just kept them."

 

"Yeah, they're over there." Jennifer pointed to a tank sitting on the table across the room.

 

"Oh, I see." Eugene had gone a whole fifteen minutes in the house without seeing them, but now they were all she could see - even out of the corner of her eye. She had really set herself up for that one.

 

"I honestly don't know why I'm grounded," Jennifer continued. "I asked Dad for permission and there's no rule against bringing fish into the classroom."

 

"Yeah, no. You asked me when you knew I was too busy worrying about your sister almost getting shot to assess the situation," said Mr. Pierce, "so that doesn't count."

 

"Jeff! Not here!" Ms. Stewart exclaimed. 

 

Mr. Pierce glared at her and stayed silent.

 

Mom cleared her throat. "Hey, Anissa," she began. "I bet I could eat a slice of watermelon faster than you." She winked at Eugene. "Without my hands, of course."

 

All thoughts of Jennifer's piranhas vanished as Eugene suppressed a grin and inconspicuously grabbed a finished slice of watermelon off of Mom's plate. Jennifer's eyes lit up as she realized what they were planning.

 

"Shhh," Eugene mouthed, putting a finger to her lips.

 

"How much are we bettin'?" Anissa asked.

 

"I got five dollars on me," said Mom.

 

"I'll be the judge," said Eugene, concealing the finished slice from Anissa's view.

 

"Okay, let's do this." Anissa fished five dollars out of her pocket and grabbed a watermelon slice from the middle of the platter, grinning eagerly

 

"Ready, set, go."

 

Anissa immediately divebombed her face into her slice, giving Eugene time to switch Mom's slice with the finished one. Mom threw it in front of Anissa, smirking as she snatched up Anissa's five dollars. Anissa looked up, her jaw dropping as her eyes flickered between the finished slice  and Mom's spotless mouth.

 

"You didn't even bite into it!"

 

Jen screeched almost as loud as the person in the video they had gotten the idea from. "You got PLAYED!"

 

Anissa turned on Eugene, glaring daggers. "You traitor! You're supposed to be on my side!"

 

"Sorry," said Eugene, grinning down at her. "Mothers before others."

  
  



	29. The Root Problem

"So how are you and Anissa doing?" Mom asked during the drive to Garfield the next morning.

 

"Erm..we didn't talk much last night," said Eugene, grateful that she was obligated to look at the road while driving so she didn't have to see Mom’s face droop into a disappointed frown.

 

"Oh, come on, the point of me diffusing the tension last night wasn't for you to go home and bottle everything up!" As Eugene checked the side mirrors, Mom shook her head. "You know what I say about arguments, Yoojin."

 

"Yeah, I know, never go to sleep angry 'cause it'll ruin your night." Mom's philosophy would have been great if Eugene slept more than a few hours each night.

 

"What's going on with you two anyway? Why was she calling you a fake?"

 

"I, erm - I guess I wasn't completely honest with her about something from the beginning and now she thinks I was leading her on."  Eugene's mouth went dry as she tried to explain everything. She didn't have the heart to lie to Mom that day. Technically she wasn't lying.

 

"About what?"

 

"Well, we got on the topic of her going to protests and she asked why I didn't want her to go all of the sudden when I had been supportive before. And then I said I never really thought her protesting was a good idea. But then even if I had said something, she still would have gone to protest, but..." Eugene sighed. "I mean, I get why she's angry. I get it, but..."

 

"You can't be a people-pleaser, Yoojin," said Mom. "It doesn't look good and also, two conflicting opinions can coexist in the same space without butting heads."

 

"Yeah, let live and let live."

 

"Exactly. You can disagree on stuff. Also, if you hid this, she's probably thinking, 'Well, what else are you hiding?' I mean, I'm not saying that you're hiding anything bad or suspicious, but it does look bad."

 

"Like I said, I get why she's angry." Eugene blinked rapidly in an effort not to cry. "It just sucks, that's all."

 

"Yeah, I know it does. But you'll figure it out!"

 

***

 

White walls and blinding fluorescent lights surrounded Eugene as she walked through the hospital. A slight discomfort settled in her stomach; in the back of her mind, she wasn't walking. She was in the stretcher again and the glare was so bad all she felt was hot, suffocating electricity and the sirens from the ambulance still rang in her ears.

  
  
But she couldn't think about that. This hospital visit wasn't like the other ones. This one was supposed to be happy, not terrifying.

  
  
As she reached the room she intended to visit, she poked her head in to make sure it was the right room. The person inside greeted her with a grin.

  
  
"Eugene! It's so good to see you!"

  
  
"Hi, Sam! How are you holding up?"

  
  
"Stressed, but thankful," said Sam, running their fingers through the thumb-length, gray curls clinging to their head. "Very thankful. The shooter on Sunday could've gotten my chest instead of my shoulder."

  
  
Eugene instinctively brushed her fingers over her previously injured shoulder. She had to be thankful too. Unlike Sam, she had ambrosia to speed up her healing. Unlike Sam, she had someone to help her pay her medical bills - even if he was a ruthless drug lord.

  
  
"Yeah."

 

Sam forced a tight-lipped smile. "And I've never been so religious before and  _I_ work at a church! It's pitiful honestly.

  
  
Eugene nodded understandingly. Everyone turned to God when they were at their lowest point. But Eugene didn't; if she reached out every time she reached a low, she'd be praying all the time and just going lower and lower. And God had better things - better people - to worry about.

  
  
"It's okay," she told Sam. "God probably wants to hear about your problems. I bet They're lonely."

  
  
"Hmm." Sam stroked their chin. "That's true. Well - They didn't leave me alone when I needed Them, so I won't leave Them alone." Sam smiled down at their cross necklace. "Okay, God? You're not alone."

  
  
A lump formed in Eugene's throat. If only she could follow her own advice.

 

***

 

"Give me the money!"  
  
  
  
"No!” Sam yelled. “I can’t!”

 

Time had flipped. Eugene had just visited Sam in the hospital from a gunshot wound and now she was here in the church pointing a gun at Sam. Something was wrong.

 

But none of that mattered now. Because Sam was the church's financial manager and under their desk was a safe filled with the money that was supposed to go to the One Hundred as protection money.

 

“Give it to me!”

 

"I don't have it!" said Sam, throwing their arms in front of them defensively. "We haven't collected tithe yet!”

 

Eugene shocked them, slapping her hand over their mouth to stop them from crying out for help. She jumped out of surprise and jerked her hand away as they bit down on her palm.

 

"HELP! HELP!"

Eugene paralyzed Sam completely as a  few members including Mr. Pierce ran into the room. Eugene blew out the lights before flipping him onto the ground and running into the gathering space.

 

"Give me your money!" she yelled. "Give it to me now or I'll kill all of you!"

 

Suddenly the room went dark and a magnetic forcefield surrounded the members. Mr. Pierce. He had gone down much too easily in the room before. She should’ve known.

 

She effortlessly made the force field disappear and fired a bullet into the air.  Why did he do it? He knew she could control electricity. This was all too easy.

 

"Are you people dumb?!" she yelled. "This is what will happen if you don't give me your fucking money?!"

 

"You won't be getting our money!”

 

Eugene grunted as someone barreled into her. As they scuffled on the ground, a gunshot rang in the air and Eugene suddenly recognized the pair of eyes staring down at her defiantly and then lifelessly.

 

Anissa.

 

She had shot Anissa and this time, Anissa hadn't been bulletproof. No no no. Anissa was bulletproof. She was supposed to be bulletproof.

 

"No, no, I got you," Eugene muttered, pressing down on the bleeding wound But it was too late. Anissa was gone. No heartbeat, no movement. She was gone.

 

But that didn't make sense. People didn't die that fast from chest wounds. They couldn't. And Anissa was supposed to bulletproof. Why wasn't she bulletproof?

 

"I got you. Come on, you gotta get up. I already can't walk, so if you can't get up, we're - we're gonna have a big problem. You gotta get up. You gotta--" Eugene's voice cracked. "You gotta get  up."

 

After moments of no response, the tears finally spilled over and blurred her vision until she wasn't staring at Anissa, but instead staring at the ceiling of Gambi's apartment.

 

She had to stop having these weird-ass dreams.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	30. Unwanted Help

Sniffling and wiping the tears off of her cheeks, Eugene rolled over and readjusted her blankets. Her stomach dropped. The cot next to her - the cot where Anissa was supposed to be - was empty. 

 

“Anissa?” she rasped. When no one answered, Eugene let out a strangled sob. “Dammit!’

 

Where was she? Could she have snuck out? Was the whole thing before actually not a dream? And why would Anissa be dumb enough to sneak out in the middle of the night? At least sneak out during the day when it was safer. 

 

No. Eugene couldn’t freak out like this. Maybe Anissa was in the bathroom. Yeah, she was probably in the bathroom. She was probably in the bathroom and the whole church scene was a dream and everything was going to be fine. 

 

The room was silent enough for Eugene to hear her own ragged breathing as she got up to check the bathroom. No hints of water running reached her ears. No fuzzy image of a person’s outline appeared when Eugene looked through the door.

 

But maybe she was just tired. Maybe she was just tired and she couldn’t see Anissa. So she opened the door, but Anissa wasn’t there. 

 

Blinking back more tears, Eugene yanked the door closed. Maybe she just had to call Anissa. Technology was there for a reason.

 

The phone rang in sync with Eugene’s ragged breathing. Anissa’s phone had rung too many times to be off. Was she purposefully ignoring Eugene? No. She couldn’t be. Especially after getting kidnapped. Yes, they were fighting, but Freeland was too dangerous to run off and not answer the phone in the middle of the night. That was just fucking insensitive.

 

“Dammit,” she muttered. “Damn me. This is all my fault. This is all my fault--”

 

Suddenly a big, bright source of electricity flashed across her radar. Eugene threw open the door and rushed to the window, almost tripping over the bath mat. It wasn’t Anissa below the window. It was Mr. Pierce, all suited up. 

 

Shit.

 

If Tobias found out that Eugene had let Black Lightning go under her watch one more time, he’d really kill Mom this time. He’d torture everything out of her - Mr. Pierce’s identity, Anissa’s powers, Gambi’s loyalties - and Eugene didn’t know how much longer she could keep lying. 

 

Filled with purpose, Eugene walked briskly and straight-legged back to her suitcase. She dug out a ski mask from the bottom and pulled on sweatpants and one of her dark overcoats. Before putting on the ski mask, she hooked her voice modifier to her ear and changed the setting. No one could recognize her for what she was she about to do. 

 

***

 

Eugene found Mr. Pierce at the club Joey was usually at. As Joey dragged Mr. Pierce into his car, she hid in the staircase around the corner from the parking lot. She had to do something now. If Mr. Pierce had lost a fight with Joey, he wouldn’t stand a chance with Tobias. 

 

With a flick of her wrist, she directed electricity out of the nearest streetlight and through Mr. Pierce’s hand as though he was the one controlling it. The stream of electricity hit Joey square on the chest, giving Mr. Pierce time to push his way out of the car. Tires screeching, Joey yanked the door shut and sped off into the street. 

 

Moments later, Mr. Pierce still lay face down on the ground, groaning and clutching his head. Eugene had originally planned to let him take it from here, but he needed help now.  

 

Thrown off balance without the support of her canes, Eugene stumbled over to him and dropped onto her knees. 

 

“Can you stand up?” she asked. 

 

“Who - who are you?” he grunted. 

 

“Can’t tell you that here,” said Eugene. “Can you move? We need to get behind a car or something. That suit is a glowing beacon for trouble--”

 

Sirens from far off rang in Eugene’s ears as police cars sped down the street. Heart pounding, she grabbed Mr. Pierce’s arm, lifted both of them off the ground, and landed behind a nearby building. 

 

Mr. Pierce froze, his widening in realization. She slapped her hand over his mouth to stop him from crying out as the police drove by their hiding spot, not letting go until the sirens faded away.

 

“You!” he spat.

 

“If I hadn’t done that, the police would’ve seen us,” said Eugene. “And you couldn’t hurt a fly right now, so--”

 

“Get away from me, you bitch!”

 

Eugene backed away, thrown back to the time Tobias had stabbed her and she’d had to deal with him “helping” her because no one else could stabilize the harpoon. Fuck. She was just like Tobias. 

 

Tobias had ruined her life and she had ruined Mr. Pierce’s life. And here she was helping him when he didn’t want it all, but she had to because no one else was around. Just like Tobias was the only one who could’ve helped her.

 

Fuck. She had never meant to empathize with Tobias.

 

“Get away from me! Go!” Mr. Pierce extended his arm to strike. Seconds later, the electricity from his glove fizzed out and he went limp, losing consciousness.

 

“Great,” Eugene muttered, reaching for her phone. He couldn’t go to a regular hospital, but maybe Gambi could help him.

 

“Get away from him!”

 

Eugene turned around to see Gambi pointing a gun at her head. 

 

“Oh, hi, you’re just the person I was looking for--”

 

“I have celestial bronze bullets, so I wouldn’t get too mouthy if I were you,” said Gambi. “Now back away, hands behind your head.”

 

Eugene’s legs and back burned with fatigue as she scooted back on her knees. She had flown all the way here without her canes. She was too tired for this shit. 

 

“Faster than that!” he growled, moving the gun closer to her head.

 

“Give me a minute! I can fly, not teleport.”

 

“You know what? Stand up. Stand up and move!” He tensed up as she moved her hands to push herself off the ground. The gun was right on top of her head now. “Uh-uh. Hands behind your head.”

 

Eugene’s mouth went dry. “I can’t do that.”

 

“Trust me, you’ll find a way to or I’ll blow your head off your shoulders.”

 

“No, I mean I literally can’t get up with my hands behind my head. I need the ground to get up.”

 

Gambi scoffed. “Oh, so you’re crippled now?”

 

“Um...” She inhaled sharply. “Kinda.”

 

“You can murder people, but you can’t stand up on your own. That’s bull.”

 

“I can explain--”

 

“I’m giving you three seconds to stand up and then I’ll shoot. Three--”

 

“It’s me, Eu--”

 

“Two--”

 

Eugene jabbed the air with her elbow and sent Gambi flying. More gunshots followed as she launched herself onto the roof. Thank God she had a bulletproof vest. 

 

When she was several buildings away, Eugene finally let herself take a breather and collapsed onto all fours, her chest heaving. She’d just wanted to help and then this happened.

 

Why was she so bad at helping people?

 


	31. Hypocrisy

When Eugene got back to Gambi’s place, it was almost two in the morning. She was changing into her pajamas when Anissa suddenly climbed through the bathroom window. Thanks to Eugene keeping the light off, she was blissfully unaware of Eugene sitting on the toilet. 

 

"Well--" Eugene abruptly turned on the light, wearing the sweetest grin she could muster. "--look who it is."

 

Anissa stumbled backward into the radiator, covering her mouth to stifle the scream that probably would've woken up everyone in the building. Both of them shook from head to toe - Anissa from shock, Eugene from all-consuming laughter.

 

"That was unnecessary!" Anissa stared at Eugene with wide eyes as she signed, hands still trembling. "Don't do that to me again!"

 

"You deserved it," Eugene signed once she had calmed down enough to use her hands. "I woke up and you were gone. No note, nothing."

 

“Listen, Mrs. Weasley--” Anissa huffed through her nose, her shoulders heaving as she signed. "--I couldn’t leave in the middle of the day. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. You always tell me I’m not slick enough."

 

"Well, your slick ass gonna be dead in an alleyway because you so stupid ." Eugene's sides still hurt from laughter, but the humor in the situation had vanished. She couldn’t even laugh at the Harry Potter reference.

 

“I wasn’t doing anything dangerous--”

 

Eugene snorted. Anissa was always doing something dangerous. “Right. What were you doing?"

 

“I was at a cosplay party,” Anissa signed, looking Eugene straight in the eyes so much so that it was slightly creepy. Maybe she thought that it would help cover up her lie or something. Either way, it wasn’t working.

 

“This late?” Eugene glanced down at her watch. “The Ruby Red Lipstick closes at midnight.”

 

“I went to another bar--”

 

“That’s bullshit. You’ve never entered a straight bar in your life.”

 

“Well, then after the bar, I went over to this girl named Grace’s place--”

 

Eugene sank into another fit of laughter; Anissa was so bad at lying. She could never be a superhero because she’d reveal herself within a day and Tobias would have the piranhas eat her for breakfast.

 

“Okay--” Eugene pursed her lips to stifle her grin. “--you went to a cosplay party, I get it. What were you dressed up as, a cross between Spiderman and Supergirl?”

 

"Shut up!” Anissa bared her teeth at Eugene. “Stop laughing at me!”

 

“What do you mean? I’m not laughing,” Eugene signed, laughing.

 

“Then wipe that stupid grin off your face!” Anissa pushed herself onto her feet and indignantly put her hand on her hip. “And you say I’m not slick. You’re a hypocrite. I’m leaving.”

 

“Yes, please do so I get off the bloody toilet in peace!” Eugene called after her.     

 

***

 

“I’m gonna kill her.”

 

Jeff’s mouth set into a deep scowl as he stood up, his hand curling into a fist at his side. Gambi sighed and stood up just in case he had to stop Jeff from doing something else reckless. Not twenty-four hours ago, Jeff had threatened to “Black-Lightning” his ass. He had to be ready for anything now.

 

“Please tell me that was a hyperbole.”

 

“No, I’m actually going to kill her,” said Jeff, glaring daggers into the nearest wall. “She doin’ too much. Letting Joey try to take me to Tobias and then when I finally fry his ass, out she comes pretending to be my savior when in reality, she’s just tryna take me to Tobias. Although, I wish she woulda taken me to Tobias. I woulda killed both of them.”

 

“First of all, we don’t kill people!” said Gambi, his mouth agape. Of course, by “we”, he meant Jefferson. Maybe he killed people, but the innocent boy he found on the streets wasn’t supposed to kill people. “And second of all, in the state you were in, you couldn’t have killed an ant.”

 

“Well, first of all--” Jefferson smiled mockingly. “--I’m fine now, so that doesn’t matter. And second of all, _you_ don’t kill people, but there’s nothing stopping me.”

 

“Uh, yes you do,” said Gambi. “Murder doesn’t just hurt the victim; it hurts the murderer too. It - it kills something inside of you.”

 

“How would you know?” Jeff asked. “I thought we don’t kill people.”

 

Gambi’s mouth went dry as his words stumbled. “We don’t...but people aren’t one-dimensional comic book villains. They don’t just go from being a regular person to enjoying cold-blooded murder. You’ll feel some guilt afterward; it’s common sense!”

 

“Oh, don’t worry,” said Jeff. “I won’t be feeling guilty.”

 

“You don’t know that, Jeff,” said Gambi. “You know what it felt like to lose your father. You want to put someone else’s family through that? You wouldn’t be hurting her as much as you’d be hurting innocent people.”

 

“Well, then when her family goes to the afterlife, they can ask her why I did what I did and she can tell them it’s because she’s a shitty excuse for a human being and she deserved it. So really, she’s the one who would be hurting her own family. Not me.”

 

“Don’t do this!” Gambi stared up at Jeff beseechingly. “There are other ways to deal with them.”

 

“What other ways?!” Jeff asked through grit teeth. “The police are paid off! Even if we do get them in prison, they’ll find some way to escape.”

 

“We’ll find a way to block their powers,” said Gambi. “Tobias has to have some weakness and your powers basically cancel out the Conductor’s.”

 

“I will cancel her out. Permanently.”

  
  
 


	32. On Thin Ice

The mechanical sound of the air hummed in Jennifer's ears as she kneeled down on the floor. Eugene had assigned her and Keisha to clean out the desks for detention. Since she had eaten in class multiple times, she couldn't really complain. But as she reached under the desk and felt a piece of gum squelch under her finger, she recoiled and cried out in disgust.

 

"Urgh. That's gross."

 

"What?" Keisha asked.

 

"There's gum under the desk." Jennifer turned to Eugene, who was bent over a stack of papers. "You got hand sanitizer, Emart?"

 

"Yeah." Eugene brushed a handful of curly hair out of her face and pushed the bottle to the edge of her desk. "Here you go."

 

"Also, who sits here?" The alcohol in the hand sanitizer made Jennifer's palms tingle. "'Cause they gon' catch these hands."

 

"Well, Khalil used to sit there, so it must be someone from one of my other classes.” Eugene inhaled sharply, quirking an eyebrow. "Probably my study hall. They're a bunch of gluttonous gremlins."

 

Jennifer snickered, her eyes glancing over Eugene's desk. "Are those our in-class essays you're grading?"

 

"Yeah." A sly grin crept across Eugene's face. "I'm actually starting yours right now."

 

Dread dripped off of Keisha's voice. "Oh, no, she gon' give us a bad grade to get back at us."

 

Jennifer rolled her eyes at Keisha's dramatics. Eugene may have been acting like that, but she wouldn't grade like that. She didn't have a bad bone in her body. Even still, temptation made Jennifer lean forward in an attempt to get a glimpse of her grade. Eugene snatched the papers away, her eyes narrowed.

 

"Oh, no, you're not peeking. Clean."

 

Jennifer pouted.

   

"I'll show you your grades when you finish cleaning," Eugene said sternly. "Clean.”

 

"Okay."

 

"We're done." Jennifer's heart fluttered slightly at the thought of seeing her in-class essay. If she got a good grade, there was a chance Mom and Dad would go easier on her about the detention. But if she did badly, that would only add fuel to the fire.

 

"Okay." Eugene clumsily navigated through the sea of desks, her hips moving like a penguin as she checked Jennifer and Keisha's work. "Pretty good, actually. You can see your grades now."

 

Jennifer and Keisha swarmed Eugene's desk, nearly knocking over the stack of papers.

 

"Woah, woah, woah, let me give them to you." Eugene paused as she flipped through the stack and handed them out. "Jennifer. Keisha."

 

"I got a six," said Keisha.

 

"Seven." Jennifer grinned, flipping her hair over her shoulder. 

 

Keisha tilted her head to the side as she put down her paper. "How did you get a better grade than me when you had to blow into a fish bucket every thirty minutes?"

 

"Well, regardless of the fact that she brought piranhas into the classroom, it was still a good paper, so I had to grade it fairly," said Eugene. "Oh, now don't go breaking your hand patting yourself on the back," she added as Jennifer grinned harder. "I had to type my lessons on the projector for the rest of the day because I lost my voice yelling at you. You are on thin ice."

 

"Whatever you say, Emart."

 

***

 

A small smile lingered on Eugene’s lips as she came back from Jen and Keisha’s detention. Something about teaching made her smile - even if it was detention.

 

But then she opened the door and Anissa was sitting on the couch and the smile vanished.

  
  
"Hey, Anissa.” Eugene strategically chose a chair across the room. Anissa didn’t like to be touched when she was mad and with her new powers, now was not the time to take any chances.

  
  
"Hey." Anissa avoided Eugene's eye, staring intently at the stack of papers she was going through.

               
  
"Um...I'm sorry," said Eugene, scratching the side of her head.  "Last night was shitty. I got hysterical and then my attitude came out and it was honestly nasty. I’m sorry.”

  
  
Anissa looked up at her and sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry too. But I can't just sit here and do nothing besides go to work. I'm going stir-crazy."

  
  
"Yeah, and I know I can't stop you." Eugene paused. "But, um...if you do decide to go off somewhere again, please don't do it at night. That's terrifying."

  
  
"Yeah, sorry." Anissa pursed her lips sheepishly. "I don't blame you for freaking out. I did come in through the window while you were on the toilet."

  
  
"Yeah, don't do that again, please." Eugene snickered. "So can we make a deal? No, um, sneaking off in the middle of the night?"

  
  
"We got a deal.” Anissa paused. “But only if you can be truthful about your feelings from now on."

 

Years of lying and sign language had taught Eugene how to be quick with her facial expressions, but this time, Anissa jumped on a mere moment of hesitation.

 

“See, here we go.” Her eyes narrowed.

 

“Anissa--”

 

“Don’t ‘Anissa’ me. I’m not making any deals about anything until you get your shit together.”

 

She shook her head and looked back down at her work. Eugene mirrored Anissa’s body language, her stomach tying into knots.

 

God, she was such a coward.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I hope you liked this chapter. I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments! Obviously, I know you guys like it because of all the hits and kudos, but sometimes I feel like I'm posting into a void, so feedback here and there would be nice.


	33. A Very Martin Weekend

"This is a very Martin weekend," Jennifer mused as she pored over the math problems Aunt Kaiya had given her to work on. "First, detention with Eugene and now SAT practice with you."

  
  
"We're inescapable, I know," said Aunt Kaiya. A grin identical to Eugene's played across her lips. "I'm your favorite, though, right?"

  
  
"Well, currently, yes, because your couch is much more comfortable than being on the floor cleaning gum off desks."

  
  
"Currently?" Aunt Kaiya's voice went up in pitch in mock outrage. "That suggests that it changes from time to time!"

  
  
"You both have your moments." Jennifer grinned back. "Also, can you check this for me? I think I did it right."

  
  
"Well, I  _ can _ but whether or not I  _ will _ depends on whether or not I'm your favorite.” 

  
  
"Well, uh...you''re my favorite!"  Jennifer declared cheerfully.

  
  
Aunt Kaiya snickered, putting on her reading glasses and taking the paper from Jennifer. "You're decent so far." She paused, her eyebrows furrowing down for a moment. 

  
  
Jennifer's smile faded. "What did I do wrong?"

  
  
"Hold on...oh, you just mixed up the signs here," said Aunt Kaiya, handing the paper back to Jennifer. "This is a negative, not positive."

  
  
Jennifer brought her palm to her forehead. "Oh, figures. I hate when that happens."

  
  
"Yeah, the small mistakes are always the worst." Aunt Kaiya pursed her lips into a tight-lipped smile. "But at least you're done for the day!" 

  
  
"Yeah, at least I'm done." Jennifer's eyes suddenly brightened as she got an idea. "Can I drive home with you so I can get more of my hours?"

  
  
"Oh,  _ no _ \--" Aunt Kaiya grimaced, shaking her head vigorously. "--it's best for the both of us if we don't do that. "I'm pretty sure I traumatized Yoojin when we had to do her hours. I'm driving."

  
  
"Why?"

  
  
"Because you'll make me nervous and then I'll lose my temper and it'll be terrible. No, we're not doing that."

  
  
"Okay."  


 

***

 

"So you gonna do anything later today now that you're not grounded?" Aunt Kaiya asked. "You could go visit Khalil."

  
  
"No, Khalil got transferred to another hospital." Her face sunk at the mention of Khalil. "And we haven't been talking much lately either, so..."

  
  
"You haven't?"

  
"No, he got mad at me for quitting track and then he didn't answer any of my texts after that. And then Dad told me he transferred, so I'm kinda stuck now," Jennifer rambled. 

  
  
"Well, maybe he thought you were quitting track for him."

  
  
"I didn't quit track for him!" Jennifer huffed. Aunt Kaiya sounded too much like Mom and Dad. "It just wasn't enjoyable anymore."

  
  
A hint of smugness dripped off of Aunt Kaiya's voice. "And why wasn't it enjoyable anymore?"

  
  
"It just wasn't the same..." Jennifer sighed, inwardly facepalming at her own realization. "...without him."

  
  
"Yeah."

  
  
"'Cause it was our thing and now..." Jennifer trailed off, pursing her lips. 

  
  
"And now it can't be your thing anymore." Aunt Kaiya's eyes mirrored Jennifer's sadness. "But that's alright. You'll find a new thing."

  
  
"Yeah, I guess." Those were nice words, but Jennifer couldn't imagine her and Khalil without track. He was supposed to run his way out of Freeland and take her with him. What was she supposed to do now that that couldn't happen?

  
  
"It's gonna be hard, but you'll be alright.  Like...ASL used to be my thing and then my hands got messed and now my thing is being a teacher," said Aunt Kaiya. "And I mean, I still miss ASL a lot, but things are decent. We wouldn't have these Sunday sessions if I didn't teach."

 

Jennifer cracked a smile. "Yeah, I'm glad we do. 'Cause I sure do need them!"

 

***

 

Holding back laughter, Eugene watched Jennifer closely as the other students did their classwork. A distinct source of electricity had suddenly appeared in Jen’s lap. Eugene could even sense Jen periodically look up from her lap as if that would stop Eugene from knowing about the phone when she had electricity powers.  

 

It was honestly pathetic. 

 

Looking up from her lap again, Jennifer slammed her laptop shut and Eugene’s half-smile vanished. 

 

“Toilet?” Jennifer signed, barely looking at Eugene as she waved her fist in the air. 

 

“Um, sure,” Eugene said. 

 

Fifteen minutes passed and Jen still wasn’t back from the bathroom. She probably hadn’t even gone to the bathroom in the first place. And if she had, she was purposely staying in there. Whatever she saw on her phone must’ve been bad. 

 

But before Eugene could ponder Jen’s absence any longer, Keisha stared up at the ceiling let out a long-suffering groan. Eugene snickered. 

 

“What?”

 

“Is there any use for English besides becoming an English teacher?” Keisha asked. “‘Cause I feel like all of this is only useful for the AP exam and I don’t want to become an English teacher.”

 

“Oh, sure, you can become a linguist,” said Eugene. 

 

“What do they do?” 

 

“Okay.” Eugene paused. “Some people like to study roots…” Her mind blanked for a second. “And suffixes...and prefixes. Personally, I’m not a huge fan--”

 

Suddenly Mr. Pierce stuck his head in the door. The whole class instinctively looked up. 

 

“Sorry to interrupt. Have you seen Jennifer?”

 

“She went to the bathroom.” Eugene quirked her eyebrows to show that Jennifer probably hadn’t really gone to the bathroom. Mr. Pierce nodded understandingly.

 

Seconds after Mr. Pierce left, Mike, the student sitting next to Keisha turned to Eugene, frowning. “Wait, you said they study roots? How are plants related to linguistics?”   
  


The entire front row burst out laughing. Eugene stared at the ceiling for a good thirty seconds, her lips pursed shut. 

 

“I meant..I meant word roots.”

 

“Oh. Duh.”

 

***

 

After class, Eugene pulled Jen aside. As she walked over to Eugene’s desk, Jen’s eyes traveled up to the ceiling in dread. 

 

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.” Despite having the phone out, Jen  _ had  _ done it during classwork and not a discussion. And on top of that, Eugene had already given her two detentions. She didn’t need the added stress when she was already upset.

 

“Then what did you want to talk about?”

 

“Just wanted to check in,” said Eugene. “You looked upset when you went to the bathroom.”

 

Jen glanced sideways. “I’m fine now, Emart.”

 

“Alright, I won’t be nosy.” Eugene cracked a smile. “But I’m here if you need anything, okay?” 

  
  
  



	34. Help Wanted

"I thought I told you to keep Black Lightning under control."

 

Raindrops slid down the windows of the van Eugene used for One Hundred business as she berated Gambi.  Doing it in the One Hundred’s van was risky, but she couldn't call him in his own apartment; that'd be dumb as fuck. And she couldn't use her own apartment because after the incident at the club with Joey, he was probably more suspicious and she wouldn't put it past him to track her phone.  

 

"Well, last time I checked, I don't answer to you."

  
"He went after Joey Toledo, for fuck's sake!" Eugene puffed out her cheeks. Gambi's comebacks were poetic, but they didn't actually help anyone. "Tobias is gonna be on the warpath!"

  
"That's not my problem," Gambi said coldly. "Tobias is the one who's supposed to be in hiding, not Black Lightning. Why don't you keep Tobias under control?"

  
"If I hadn't shown up, Joey would've gotten him." Eugene's face flushed. She couldn't control Tobias. No one could control Tobias. Didn't he understand that? "And then Tobias would've had him and killed him and you wouldn't be such a blo - fucking smartass right now. I think it's your problem."

  
Gambi didn't answer.

 

"What was wrong with him, anyway?" she asked, swallowing her frustration. "Something was wrong with his head."  
  
  
  
"That's none of your business!"  
  
  
  
Eugene sighed. Of course he didn't trust her. Why should he? "Fair enough." She paused. "But if you want me to keep Tobias under control, you have to help me kill him because nothing will be fixed until he's dead."  
  
  
  
"Wha--?” Gambi stumbled over his words. “Slow down for a minute, I'm not helping you kill Tobias!"  
  
  
  
Eugene's mouth fell open. "Why the hell not?!"  
  
  
  
"There are better ways to go about this. We could hand him over to the police--"  
  
  
  
"The police are all paid off," she said. "You know that. And even if you do get him in there, he'll just break out. And anyway, why don't you want to kill Tobias? Judging by the way you tried to blow my head off the other day, you aren't above a little murder."                                                                                                                                                                       
  
  
"Well, first of all, this isn't about Tobias at all," said Gambi. "This is about me not walking into one of your traps. Barely a month ago, you try to kill Black Lightning and now you wanna kill Tobias? Do you want to murder everyone?"  
  
  
  
"Oh, shut up--"  
  
  
  
"Also, do me a favor and lose my number."

  
  


He hung up and Eugene heaved a sigh. Starting up the van, she drove to the assigned parking lot, staring dejectedly out the window. She could tell him the truth - she’d gotten close to it. He was just too oblivious to connect the dots.

 

And at least telling him meant she had more control over it. The last thing she needed was for everything to come out in a near-death experience like it almost had during the Joey fiasco. That’d just be insulting to everyone including her.

 

That’s what she’d do. She’d go home and tell them. If she didn’t, Gambi would never trust her and Tobias would never get dealt with. If she didn’t, Anissa would never talk to her again regardless of whether or not the truth came out.

 

***

 

On the way home, Eugene lounged on the roof of an abandoned building to catch her breath when a tingling sensation lit up her back. Someone was behind her.

 

Hands shoved into her back and Eugene plummeted, instinctively catching herself with the wind. Crouched on all fours, she turned on her attacker, whose glowing, blue eyes glowered down at her.

 

Mr. Pierce.

 

If not for the eyes, she wouldn’t have recognized him at all. Instead of wearing his suit, he wore a ski mask and classic baggy, black clothes. Why wasn’t he wearing his suit? If someone pulled out their gun while he was distracted, he’d be done for.

 

“You’ve got a new outfit,” she remarked. “What do you want?”

 

“For you to get a taste of your own medicine.”

 

He extended his arm and Eugene’s arms gave out.

 

Electricity emerged from her chest and arched around her body. Eugene stared up at Mr. Pierce, her mouth agape as she gasped for breath.

 

He was taking the electricity from her body.

 

“No…” She broke off as a jolt of pain stabbed her chest. “Stop...you’ll regret it. I-I promise.”

 

Mr. Pierce jumped on the roof, landed on the lid of a nearby dumpster, and slid onto the ground to be at her level. “Did you regret it?” he spat in her face. “All the shit you did?”

 

Eugene tried to nod, but her body trembled so much he wouldn’t have understood anyway. Every mistake she had ever made flashed before her eyes and she regretted all of it. Every murder; every lie; every selfish, cowardly moment. But most of all, she regretted not thinking of all this until now because now she was going to die and it was pathetic. It was so fucking pathetic.

 

“And even if you did,” he continued, his hands crackling with her electricity, “why should I regret it, huh? Even if you have a family, they’re probably better off without you.”

 

Fuck. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t do that to Mom. Or Anissa. Or even Mr. Pierce. She’d choose to go to Hell for all eternity if she let them find out this way.

 

Black spots clouding her vision, Eugene fumbled with her helmet strap. “Take...take my helmet off.”

 

“What?”

 

In one last ditch attempt, she reached under her helmet to turn off the voice modifier and realized Mr. Pierce had already turned it off by sucking out the electricity. If he hadn’t noticed the voice change by now, he wouldn’t notice later. Or maybe he just didn’t care.

 

“My helmet. Take it off.” A strangled sob ripped its way out of her throat. “Please.”   

  


  



	35. Moments of Gratitude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, sorry for the wait and the wonky spacing, but Google docs hates me and idk how to fix it, so it'll just have to be like this. Trigger warning for hospitalization and cardiac arrest/heart attack mention.

The Conductor’s hand fell away from her helmet and she went limp. As her heart slowed to a flatline, Jefferson’s heart pounded as though it was about to jump out of his chest.

 

His breath rattling, his hands shaking, Jefferson reached out to touch her helmet. Why did she want him to take it off? What good would revealing herself do when she was about to die?

 

She had to be someone he knew. It didn’t make sense for her to reveal herself when she was someone he hadn’t met. The Conductor was a lot of things, but she wasn’t stupid. 

 

He had killed someone he knew.

 

“Dammit. Dammit!” Jeff recoiled, screwing his eyes shut. He couldn’t take off the helmet. He couldn’t take it off and find out that someone he knew was under there.

 

Unfortunately, even with his eyes shut, the lack of life cut at his soul. Gambi was right; he couldn’t live with that. And he didn’t have much time; there was only so much time before CPR and defibrillation were rendered useless.

 

Jeff opened his eyes and lifted up her chin, clumsily undoing the strap. When he took the helmet off, his jaw literally hit the ground.

 

“Eugene?”

 

This night couldn’t get any worse. 

 

“Okay.” Jeff swallowed his emotions and his tears and hid them behind grit teeth. “You’re not human so the regular hospital is a no. Don’t know if you’re a meta so Lynn might not work either. Gotta call Gambi.”

 

Gambi answered after three rings. “There you are! We’ve been trying to get in contact with you for ages--”

 

"Lecture later!" A lump in Jeff’s throat constricted his voice. “I have a problem.”

  
  
“What happened?” 

  
  
"I-I fucked up. I went after the Conductor and then--” He broke off. “--I did it.” He couldn't say murder. Gambi knew what he meant. "And then it turned out to be Eugene and I'd call 911, but there'd be too many weird questions and I can't--"   
  
  
  
"Goddamn," Gambi whispered. Then clearing his throat, he said, "There is a hospital that can help her. Call 312 instead. Um, start CPR.”   
  
  
  
"Yeah, I was just about to do that-- "   


 

“Also, don’t do defibrillation because they might connect it to Black Lightning and that could make things worse for her.”

 

“Okay.” Jeff dialed the number, put it on speaker, and began compressions. His gaze fell on Eugene.

 

“Damn you.”

  
  


***

 

White light flooded Eugene’s vision as she came to. Apparently, people saw a white light when they went to Heaven, but Heaven was supposed to be comforting and this light was distinctly uncomforting. This light blinded her. 

 

Maybe this was Hell. God knew her. They knew how much she hated white lights. The stereotypical river of fire was boring, but this’d be the perfect Hell for her. Lying there paralyzed, blinded by the light and forever suspended in a hospital bed. 

 

“She’s responsive.”

 

A person emerged from the light. Without her glasses, they were only a rough outline of electricity, but at least it was something.

 

“Can I have my glasses?” Eugene cringed at the state of her voice, bracing herself for the worst. Did they even let you have glasses in Hell? Was no glasses a part of the punishment?

 

“Sure,” said the person. “We couldn’t find your personal pair, but I can get you a temporary pair.”

 

Shit. If they gave her a spare pair, she’d have to pay for those. She had enough hospital bills already; she didn’t need more in the afterlife.

 

The person must have sensed her panic, because they added, “Hey, hey, calm down. You just got defibrillated. You need to relax.”

 

Eugene sobbed. She had gotten defibrillated? That meant she was alive. Mr. Pierce had listened to her. He had saved her. Her stupid, desperate plan had worked. 

 

“Kamsahamnida, Hana Bomonim,” she whispered. “Kamsahamnida.” _ Thank You, Heavenly Parent. Thank You. _   


 

***

 

“I’ve been seeing too much of you, Eugene,” said Dr. Jones as he sat down in the chair across from her bed. Eugene almost wished she didn’t have the spare glasses so she wouldn’t have to see the quizzical look on his face. Question time had come. 

 

“Yeah, the feeling’s mutual.” Eugene forced a tight-lipped smile.

 

“Anyhow, I’m going to ask you a few questions to try to figure why you went into cardiac arrest.” He readied his clipboard. “Try not to get too worked up. I’m doing all of this to help you.”

 

“Okay.”

  
"Do you smoke?”   
  
  
  
"No."

 

“Have you been stressed lately?” 

 

Eugene sucked her teeth at him. “I’m a teacher in a gang-infested neighborhood. I’m always stressed.”   
  


 

“Okay, let’s rephrase,” said Dr. Jones, “ _ have you been more stressed than usual lately _ ?”

 

“No.”   
  
  
  
"Well, aside from the Cerebral Palsy, you seem perfectly healthy, so I just can't figure out what would cause a heart attack."   
  
  
  
"I think my powers malfunctioned," said Eugene. She couldn't reveal Mr. Pierce as Black Lightning or himself. He didn't deserve to have his reputation ruined over one mistake that was partly her fault.   
  
  


Dr. Jones stopped taking notes and opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it. At least he was smart enough to know which lies would get him killed. “Your powers malfunctioned. Can you go into more detail?”   
  
  
  
“There was no other source and I used my own electricity." Technically, it wasn't too much of a lie. "I guess I used too much."

“Well, make sure that doesn’t happen again.” He grimaced. “Humans are off limits, including you."

  
"Yeah, I know that now."

 

"Anyhow, now that we've found the underlying cause, let's talk prevention. Obviously, continue not smoking. Also, you'll want to limit stress for the next few days," said Dr. Jones. "I mean, you always want to limit stress after a heart attack, but especially now. So I'd limit visits from family or friends. And uh, stop your, uh...side job for a while."   


 

 

“Can’t do that,” Eugene said immediately.   
  


 

Dr. Jones slammed his clipboard. “Look, it’s extremely dangerous and definitely stressful. Do you want to have another heart attack?”

  
  


“If I don’t go into work, he’ll off my mother and then he’ll off me. And then I won’t have a heart to go into cardiac arrest with.” Eugene’s voice became more high-pitched as she went on. “So, which one do you prefer?”

  
  


“Fine.” Dr. Jones crossed his arms. “I’ll just try to find a medication that’ll help. But I’d better not see you before your yearly checkup in July.”

  
  


“You won’t see me again. I promise.”   
  
  


  
***   
  
  
  
Eugene had to actively calm her heartbeat with her powers as she waited for Anissa to answer the phone. She had no idea whether or not Mr. Pierce had told everyone her secret, but calling him would definitely make her go into cardiac arrest again. And either way, she was screwed because she had to tell Anissa eventually. 

 

“Hello?”

 

“Hey, Anissa.” Eugene closed her eyes, ready for the yelling.             

 

"Are you okay?” Anissa’s voice was high-pitched with hysteria. “I heard what happened--”

 

As Anissa rambled, Eugene silently thanked God for Mr. Pierce. Obviously, he hadn’t told Anissa the truth because otherwise, she wouldn’t have been so worried. For someone who had tried to kill him twice, he treated her too well. She didn’t deserve any of this.   
  
  
  
"Anissa, can you calm down?” A nauseous feeling lingered in Eugene’s stomach despite the fact that her secret was still safe. If Anissa was this upset now, she’d be a mess when she finally knew the truth. “I'm fine. I'm fine, okay?"   
  
  
  
"I'm sorry.” Anissa inhaled shakily. "Dad just told me that you were in the hospital and that...basically, you scared the hell out of me. Please don’t do that again."        
  
  
  
"Yeah…” Eugene’s voice cracked; Anissa had no idea what Eugene had in store for her. “I’m...sorry about that."   
  
  
  
"How did you get a heart attack anyway?" she asked. "Your only health issue is the CP, right? I mean, I don’t remember the last time you went to the doctor."   
  
  
  
I'll, um, explain when I get out of the hospital. I should be out in a day or two. Everything’s a bit stressful now." 

 

She could've lied and made up some bullshit about it being a side effect of the childhood lightning strike that never happened, but she couldn't lie anymore. Every lie she told would just make everything worse when she finally told the truth.

 

“Right.” Anissa snorted. “We don’t want you having another heart attack because you were stressed thinking about your first heart attack.”

 

“Yeah.” Eugene forced a laugh. “Don’t want that.”   
  
  
  
***

 

Next, Eugene had to call Mom.          
  
  
  
“Oh, it’s good to hear your voice.” Mom’s voice was all scratchy like she’d been crying for a while. “You had me worried sick, you little gremlin.”

  
  
“Well, you don’t have to worry anymore. ‘Cause I’m fine,” said Eugene, hastily wiping her eyes. She had promised herself she wouldn’t cry while talking to any of them because that would be selfish. But Eugene would always cry when Mom cried - especially when she was the reason.    
  
  
  
"It sure doesn’t sound like it. Sounds like Ms. Bullfro possessed you.” 

 

Eugene lurched forward, letting out a loud snort. 

 

“And now it sounds like there’s an elephant on the line. You sure you’re not at a zoo?”

 

“Bug off, please.”

 

“Oh, are there insects too?”   
  


 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	36. Auntie E

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, so sorry for the delay! This chapter was kicking my ass to begin with and then I had to split it into two parts...it was a mess. But I'll be posting the other part tomorrow. Hope you enjoy!

The next couple of days Eugene wasn't allowed to have any visitors to--in Dr. Jones' words--"minimize her stress." But as the scent of lavender wafted into the room and the neatly woven knot of braids came into view, Eugene inwardly scoffed at Dr. Jones' precautions.

 

"Lady Eve." Eugene straightened her back as Lady Eve entered the room.

 

"Oh, drop the formalities, would you?" Lady Eve cracked a light-hearted smile. Eugene didn't return it.

 

"Mom always taught me to respect my elders."

 

"Well, then you should know that that's no way to greet your Auntie E." Lady Eve swaggered over to Eugene's bedside and patted her on the cheek. "Etiquette is subjective to the relationship."

 

Eugene's stomach reeled. She'd kill one of her students before she ever called Lady Eve "Auntie E" again.

 

Lady Eve chuckled as if she had read the look on Eugene's face and moved her hand away. "Oh, you're such a tough crowd to please. Anyhow, to the point. I'm going to take you home."

 

"Oh, no!" Eugene paused and cleared her throat. "Um, no. I really don't need that. I was just gonna take an ambulance."

 

"Oh, but I know how much you hate ambulances. Really, it doesn't inconvenience me at all."

 

Lady Eve tilted her head sympathetically, but her eyes blazed maliciously. She wasn’t taking no for an answer. She wanted to know what happened and cars were the perfect place for interrogation because you couldn't really escape. And if she didn't interrogate Eugene during the car ride home, she'd do it at some point.

 

Fuck.

 

***

 

“Yoojin, is that you?”

 

A bush of blond, curly hair peered into Eugene’s room and Eugene straightened her back As she craned her neck towards the door, her heart jumped - but not in a stressful way.

 

“Lupe? Yeah, it’s me.”

 

Lupe entered the room, frowning as they pushed their hair out of their face. “What happened? What got you in here?”

 

Eugene sank into her bedsheets; this must’ve been so awkward for Lupe. Every time they met, Eugene was in the hospital and it had been what? Barely over a month since the last time? She couldn’t even say it wasn’t her fault.

 

Sighing, Lupe pushed a chair closer to Eugene’s bed and sat down. “Okay, look. Judging by the look on your face, I think it’s best for both of us if you just don’t tell me.”

 

“Yeah, that’s probably best.”

 

“I’m sorry for stressing you out.” Lupe clasped Eugene’s hand with theirs. “I just wish I could see you somewhere that’s...not a hospital.”

 

“Yeah, I get it. Um, spring break starts next week, so I have plenty of time. We could binge _One Day at a Time_.”

 

Lupe brought their hand to their forehead. “Oh, no, not _One Day at a Time._ I need something I can fall asleep to and not feel bad about it.”

 

“I’m sure Penelope wouldn’t shame you for falling asleep,” said Eugene, managing a week smile.

 

“Yeah, I know, but it’s such a good show. I wanna be awake for it.”

 

“Well,” said Eugene, “each episode is thirty minutes, so we can watch one episode for thirty minutes and then you can nap for thirty minutes and then we can watch another episode.”

 

Lupe let their elbow lazily rest on a nearby table and put their hand under their chin. “Huh. That’s a good idea. But actually, twenty-six-minute naps are better for staying awake than thirty-minute naps.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, it really helps during shifts.”

 

“Well, then you can take twenty-six-minute naps while we watch _One Day at a Time._ ”

  
  



	37. Long Ride Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a little bit of Spanish in this chapter. It's simple enough that if you put it in Google Translate, it should make sense. For those who already know Spanish, enjoy. :)

As she walked away from the main desk, Eugene stuffed her medicals bills in her pocket, refusing to look at them. That was a tomorrow problem. Today’s problem was the bitch taking her home.

 

Lady Eve’s face wrinkled in disgust as her eyes scanned the walker Eugene had borrowed from the hospital. “You’re not going home in that old-lady walker, are you?”

 

“I’m fine,” Eugene grunted as she struggled to get the walker over the large bump in the doorway. Lady Eve eyed her skeptically.

 

“Actually, scratch what I said. That was an insult to old ladies. I’ve seen grandmas with better walkers. Just let me get you a wheelchair and I’ll push you.”

 

“I’m fine,” she repeated. No way in hell was she letting Lady Eve push her in anything anywhere near water. One wrong word and she’d be pushed right into the harbor - she could just see it now.

 

Together they walked toward the dock that would take them back to Freeland. Themyscira's harbor had magical properties that connected to all the rivers in the world. Eugene winced as the walker scraped against the boardwalk, grating at her eardrums. At some point, someone in front of her yelped in pain; she had knocked them over while trying to turn.

 

“Oh, sorry!”

 

The woman Eugene had knocked over pushed her long, black hair out of her face as she got to her feet. Despite it being at least seventy degrees outside, her sleeves covered every inch of her arms.

 

“It’s fine,” she said, dismissively turning away from Eugene.

 

Lady Eve turned on Eugene, pursing her lips. “And that is why you should’ve let me push you in a wheelchair.”

 

“I’m fine.”   

 

They ended up sitting in the same cabin as the woman Eugene had knocked over. Desperately wanting to talk to anyone besides Lady Eve, Eugene gravitated toward her. But she immediately put her earbuds and Eugene reluctantly returned to her seat next to Lady Eve.

 

“Gonna leave me all by myself, were you?” Lady Eve asked. Eugene shifted in her seat so that she was as far away from Lady Eve as possible. That was definitely a threat.  

 

“I just wanted to talk to someone who looks like they might be able to actually say my name right.”

 

“That’s racist. Just because she looks Asian doesn’t mean she’s Korean. Or that she even knows Korean.”

 

Eugene suppressed the instinct to puff out her cheeks. This was going to be a long ride. “Well, that’s why I said ‘might.’”

 

“Hey, Yoojin, why are you using a special needs walker?”

 

Lady Eve let out one her tinkling, Umbridge laughs. “Well, there’s someone who can pronounce your name right.”

 

Eugene clasped her hands together. This was still going to be a long ride - but maybe a little more bearable.

 

Eugene sighed as she turned on the newcomer. “C.J, why did you call my call my walker ‘special needs’?”

 

Despite being siblings, Lupe and C.J were polar opposites appearance-wise. While Lupe had ivory skin and dirty, blond hair, C.J’s skin was golden and his hair was jet-black.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

“Well, to be honest, it’s more disabled than you are,” he chuckled. When she didn’t laugh with him, he grimaced. “I’m sorry, was that offensive?”

 

“Well, most disabled people probably don’t want to be compared with a hunk of metal, but I’m kinda preoccupied with more pressing matters, so I don’t really care at the moment.”

 

He nodded, but then grinned as though he had just thought of something. “Por supuesto no te preocupa...porque tú eres una conductora.”

 

It took Eugene one moment to translate his sentence in her head, one moment to process the joke, and another to decide that she was gonna bitch-slap him into next month.

 

“Oh, I see." Eugene scoffed. "Hilarious. Well, in that case..vas a agarrar estas manos conductivos.”

 

C.J’s eyes drifted down to her crackling hands and his grin vanished. “Okay, now you’re offended...I’mma go. Adios!”

 

“You’d better,” she mumbled.

 

***

 

“So what happened?” Lady Eve asked as she drove Eugene home. Her lips had set into a hard frown and her voice had a gravelly, curt tone to it. “Why did you go into cardiac arrest?”

 

Eugene forced herself to glance over at Lady Eve. Looking straight ahead at the road would be too unnatural. “My powers malfunctioned.”

 

“They did?”

 

Eugene’s throat tightened as she tried not to gulp. Everything was so tight. The seats suffocated her; the windows were closed; her heart pounded as though it was fighting its way out of her chest, and she still had a good twenty minutes before they would be at Gambi’s.

 

“I was walking home and I was tired, so I decided to draw energy from the streetlight, but I was actually pulling it from myself,” said Eugene. “And then by the time I realized, it was too late.”

 

“So what you’re telling me is--” Lady Eve spoke with an airy, dangerous sort of silkiness. “--you can’t tell the difference between yourself and a streetlight?”

 

“Like I said, I was exhausted. I had gotten, like, six hours of sleep over the span of two nights. You know, with teaching and everything--”

 

“Well, in that case, we need to ease up your schedule. I can’t have you making mistakes like that,” said Lady Eve. “And since you got plenty of rest at the hospital, I expect for there to not be any repeats of this in the near future."

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

Somehow, Lady Eve’s response didn’t make Eugene feel any better. Yes, she acted like she believed the lie, but she could’ve done that to make Eugene lower her guard while she investigated further.

 

“I don’t know. I was out.”

 

Lady Eve clenched her jaw. “And you didn’t think to ask the doctor or somebody there?”

 

“No. I was just...glad to be alive.” Eugene let the stammer in her voice go unrestricted. Maybe making Lady Eve pity her would help. “I’m - I’m sorry. This mess won’t happen again.”

 

“For your sake, I hope it won’t.” As the car came to a traffic light, Lady Eve bared her teeth at Eugene and Eugene sank farther into her seat.

 


	38. Don't Talk, Don't Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know I've been gone for a whole month, but life has been killing me. I hope you enjoy this one!
> 
> Also, trigger warning: the second half of the chapter is a very graphic panic attack, so if that's not your thing, don't read past the three asterisks. The basic plot of what happened will be explained next chapter, so you won't miss anything big.

The bells on Gambi’s door jingled as Lady Eve opened it for Eugene. As they entered the shop, Gambi tended to some of his customers. Eugene hurried over to the stairs as fast as she could with the clunky hospital walker, but Gambi caught her eye anyway, his eyes narrowing.

 

“I’ll be with you in a second, Eugene.”

 

Shit.

 

“I’m good from here,” Eugene told Lady Eve. The last thing she needed was for Lady Eve to talk to Gambi and make either him or Eugene slip up. She was already caught up in enough lies.

 

Eugene and Lady Eve both knew that Gambi was involved with the One Hundred, but Lady Eve didn’t know Gambi was helping Black Lightning. Gambi knew Eugene’s involvement with the One Hundred, but to Lady Eve, he just thought Eugene was a normal citizen.

 

God, it was such a mess.  

 

“Well...if you insist,” said Lady Eve.

 

Eugene shuddered. Did she actually want to stay and talk to Gambi or was she trying to make Eugene nervous? If she was, it was working.

 

Letting go of the hospital walker, Eugene grabbed onto the rail and propped herself onto the first step. “Can you take this one back since my regular walker is here?”

 

“Okay.” With one pull, Lady Eve folded the walker and made her way to the door. “I’ll be in touch, Eugene.”

 

Eugene gripped the rail harder than usual as she made her way up the stairs, knowing full well Gambi wanted to talk to her. Talking to him or Lady Eve sounded terrible in her head and probably more terrible in reality.

 

_Please don’t keep in touch._

 

***

 

Before opening the door to Gambi’s apartment, Eugene lifted her glasses and peered through the door. Anissa was sitting on the couch. Great. She had been so focused on Lady Eve that she didn’t know what to say to Anissa. The few days in the hospital had been a nice buffer for any conversations, but now she couldn’t use that. And she couldn’t use stress as an excuse - even if she _was_ stressed as hell.

 

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Eugene opened the door. She couldn’t be so cowardly anymore. No more being a coward. No more being a coward.

 

“Eugene! You’re home!”

 

Guilt strangled Eugene’s throat again as she forced her face to mirror Anissa’s eager smile. After Eugene sat down on the couch, Anissa squeezed her with a tight hug.

 

“I’m so glad you’re home, girl.”

 

“Me too,” Eugene mumbled.

 

Anissa’s eyes softened as she pulled away from the hug. “How’re you holding up?”

 

Eugene forced herself to make eye contact. No more being a coward. No more being a coward.

 

“I’m hanging in there.”  

 

Anissa nodded knowingly and stared off to the side for a moment. “Uh...Mom and Dad are having family dinner tonight. You wanna come?”

 

Eugene froze. Family dinner. Mr. Pierce would be there.

 

Shit.

 

Her neck became like lead and her head dropped into her hands. Everything was still until Anissa said Mom’s name.

 

“Mom?” Eugene mumbled.

 

“Yeah, I said Aunt Kaiya’ll be there...at family dinner.”

 

Anissa’s hand moved to her shoulder. Electricity passed between them and Eugene nearly jumped out of her own skin. The edge of the sofa seemed so much closer now.

 

“Hey.” Anissa used her other hand to steady Eugene. “You good?”

 

“You - you shocked me.” Or had she shocked Anissa?

 

“Oh, sorry.” Anissa chuckled. “Hey, maybe I got Dad’s electric powers, too!”

 

“Yeah, maybe.” The lights in Gambi’s apartment flickered. She had definitely shocked Anissa. She had to leave before she did something worse. “I have to go to the Lou.”

 

“Okay.”   

 

Eugene walked two steps before her legs gave out from underneath her and she crashed onto her hands and knees. Anissa jumped to her feet.

 

“Oh, God, let me help you--”

 

“Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me--”  If anyone touched her, she’d shock them again or burn them or hurt them somehow. And she couldn’t hurt Anissa. Not again, not again, not again.

 

The first time Eugene tried to get up, her hand slipped. The second time, her arms were too shaky. The third time, she started walking and fell back down again.

 

“Girl, let me help you---” said Anissa, grabbing her by the wrist.

 

“I SAID DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!”

 

“Ow!” Anissa reeled back, wringing her hand. “What the hell was that?!”

 

Eugene sobbed, tears dripping onto the hardwood floor. “Shit. _Shit._ I’m sorry, I’m so--” She broke off, crying harder.

 

Anissa sighed and kneeled beside her. “No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you when you didn’t want to be touched. But you need to go to the bathroom, right? So let me help you up and then I won’t touch you.”

 

Eugene shook her head. She didn’t need Anissa’s help. Didn’t want it, didn’t deserve it.

 

“Or we can stay here,” said Anissa, “and you can piss your pants.”

 

Eugene choked out a laugh. “Bug off.”

 

Anissa snickered. “Oh, there’s the smile. You gonna get up?”

 

“Yeah, in a moment.”


	39. On My Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning: brief discussion of a panic attack 
> 
> Also, even though this is a gen fic, there will be some romantic banter in this chapter. Not too much, though.

“I’m leaving for...for the night,” said Anissa, putting her coat on. “I’ll probably see you in the morning.”

 

Anissa stumbled over her words like she was avoiding a forbidden word. Like if she mentioned family dinner, Eugene would go off the rails again. 

 

“Okay.” Eugene looked up from her cup of tea and gave Anissa a tight-lipped smile. The effort was sweet, but slightly pointless because she knew exactly where Anissa was going. “See you tomorrow. Drive safely.” 

 

With Anissa gone, the apartment fell into a stomach-churning silence. Eugene and Gambi were the only ones there. 

 

“You do know that not going to family dinner won’t help you avoid Jefferson forever?” Gambi’s eyes stayed glued to the dishes he was washing. 

 

Eugene huffed through her nose and puffed out her cheeks. “You do know he and I work at the same school? I’m not stupid.”

 

“That doesn’t mean you’ll talk,” said Gambi. “And you need to talk to him.”

 

“Which I will do--” She paused and narrowed her eyes at him. “--on my own time and not because some hypocritical nag asked me to.”

 

Gambi looked up from the dishes, his lips pressed into an ugly frown.“You know, one of the reasons I didn’t think it was you was that you’re so polite, but now I see the resemblance. And if we’re going by your time, you and Jeff won’t talk until 2026.”

 

Eugene lurched forward slightly and snickered into her hand. “Well,” she said, smiling sweetly. “if we’re going by your time, he and I won’t talk until 2030, so I think I’ll go by mine.”

 

“Oh, no, this isn’t about me--”

 

“This isn’t about you?” she spat, ignoring the lump in her throat, ignoring the tears burning at the back of her eyes. “Because let me tell you about you! You’re just as bad as I am. 

 

‘You’ve murdered. You’ve lied. And you certainly haven’t talked to Mr. Pierce about what you’ve done. So until you get your shit together, you’ve got no right to talk to me about me!”

 

Almost making her chair tip over, Eugene stood up, dumped her dirty cup into the pile of dishes, and walked off to get ready for bed. 

 

***

 

"Lynn, let me help you cook." Kaiya straightened her back, rolling back her shoulders and blowing out her cheeks. "Just because I have scleroderma and a metal hip doesn't mean I'm useless." 

 

"I never said you were useless." Lynn rolled her eyes. "But you're a guest and guests don't cook."

 

“That’s bull, Lynn.” 

 

“It’s final is what it is,” said Lynn. 

 

"You won't win with her," Jeff told Kaiya, setting a knife and fork on the table in front of her.  A smile played across his face as he peered at Lynn with fond eyes. “She’s a bull and she’s not backing down.” 

 

“My zodiac sign is Taurus the bull,” Lynn explained when Kaiya furrowed her eyebrows. 

 

“Yeah, arguments are terrible,” said Jeff. “It's like talking to a brick wall."

 

Lynn glared at him. Jeff’s smile spread into a wide grin. 

 

"A very beautiful brick wall,” he added.

 

Kaiya snickered. “Smooth.”

 

Jeff shook his finger at her. “You don’t get to talk. You’re single.”

 

“Yeah, I’ve got Yoojin and that’s all I need. Doesn’t mean I don’t get to poke at you two, though.”

 

Jeff's smile vanished. Kaiya wouldn't be thinking so optimistically if she discovered the truth about Eugene. Or if she knew what he had done to Eugene. If the truth came out, she might be angry with Eugene, but she would kill Jeff.  

 

No, she wouldn’t actually kill him. Killing people in the name of family was what got him in this mess in the first place. 

 

But he would be metaphorically dead. Very, metaphorically dead.  

 

_ Damn. _

 

Kaiya nudged him with her cane. “Hey. Lighten up.”

 

Before he could reply, the front door clicked as someone turned the lock. Seconds later, Anissa came into the kitchen. 

 

"Hi, honey." Lynn briefly looked up from the pot she was stirring and kissed Anissa on the cheek.

 

"You need help making dinner?" Anissa asked, hanging her jacket around one of the chairs. 

 

"No, I got it." 

 

"Is Yoojin coming?" Kaiya asked. 

 

Jeff turned away from Kaiya as his shoulders heaved. Eugene better not be coming. He wouldn’t be able to control himself. 

 

"No, she was too tired,” said Anissa. 

 

_ I thought so. _

 

“I’m kinda worried about her, though.”

 

“Well, that’s normal,” said Lynn. “Poor thing just had a heart attack. Of course she’s going to be a little off.”

 

“Earlier she was crying and couldn’t move,” said Anissa. “I’m...not sure that’s just from a heart attack, Mom.”

 

Kaiya leaned forward in her seat, frowning. “She couldn’t move?”

 

“Yeah, she got up to go to the bathroom and then she fell down and couldn’t get up. So then I tried to help her up and she blew up at me and hit me. And then she started crying - probably because she hit me. And…” Anissa shook her head. “...it was a mess.”

 

“She hit you?” Jeff asked. 

 

“It was partly my fault, though. She kept saying not to touch her and I did it anyway. I don’t think she meant to do it, either. It seemed more like a reflex.”

 

“Yes, well, you don’t touch people who are in a panic attack like that,” said Lynn.  “Unless, of course, they ask you.”

 

“Yeah, well, next time I won’t.” Anissa heaved a sigh. “It was just so  _ weird. _ I’ve never seen her like that. I don’t know if it was something I said or…”

 

“What  _ did  _ you say?” Kaiya asked. 

 

“I told her she could come to family dinner if she wanted and that’s when she started acting weird. I just don’t get what’s so triggering about family dinner.” 

 

“The doctor did limit visits and phone calls so she wouldn’t be stressed,” Kaiya mused. “Maybe it’s simply being around people that stresses her out after what happened.” 

 

“How exactly did you tell her about family dinner?” Jeff asked. He had a working theory. “Like, uh…what was the exact phrasing?”

 

Anissa paused, staring up at the ceiling for a few seconds. “I told her that you and Mom were having family dinner and then I asked if she wanted to come. Oh! And I mentioned Aunt Kaiya would be here.”

 

Of course. Of course that was it. Anissa had mentioned him and Eugene snapped. Even after everything that happened, Jeff couldn’t blame her. He would’ve snapped too.

 

At least she was as unprepared to face him as he was to face her. 

  
  
  



End file.
